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LIBRARY 


GIFT OF 


George Nathan Newma 


Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2023 with funding from 
Duke University Libraries 


https://archive.org/details/lifeofgeneralely01 park 


ELY S. PARKER 
As he appeared when he became Grant’s Military Secretary. 


. i? 
guts <a, 


THE LIFE OF 


GENERAL ELY S. PARKER 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS AND 


GENERAL GRANT’S MILITARY SECRETARY 


BY 


ARTHUR C. PARKER 


STATE ARCHAEOLOGIST OF NEW YORK 


BUFFALO, NEW YORK: 
PUBLISHED BY THE 


BUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
1919 


Midi 
BAKER, JONES, HAUSAUER, | 
PRINTERS AND BINDERS _ 
BUFFALO, N. ¥. ; 


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OFFICERS OF THE 
BUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY 


1919 
Honorary PRESIDENT, .§ . . . . ANDREW LANGDON. 
IHESIDENT, . . . - . - « ts Hom HEINEY W. HILDE. 
VicE-PRESIDENT, Ve ce 6(CHARERS KY WIESON. 
SECRETARY-TREASURER, . . . . FRANK H. SEVERANCE. 


BOARD OF MANAGERS 


Term expiring January, 1920 


Apert H. Bricaes, M. D., Lee H. Smirsa, M. D., 
Joun G. WICKSER, Epwarp S. Haw ey, 
Wruiam A. GaALPin. 


Term expiring January, 1921 


Howarp H. Baker, Dr. G. Hunter BartLett, 
G. Barrett Ric, Henry W. SPRAGUE, 
Wruram Y. WARREN. 


Term expiring January, 1922 


Hon. Henry W. Hm, Henry R. Hownanp, 
Grorce R. Howarp, Caries R. Witson, 
Evan Hotuister. 


Term expiring January, 1923 


AnpREW Lancpon,. . . . . . Loran L. Lewss, Jr., 
Frank H. SEVERANCE, . . . Gesorce A. STRINGER, 
Caan R. PERRINE. 


462618 


LIST OF THE 


PRESIDENTS OF THE SOCIETY 


FROM ITS ORGANIZATION TO THE PRESENT TIME 


*MILLARD FILLMORE, . 
*Henry W. Rocers, 


*Rev. ALBERT T. CHESTER, D. D. ; 


*Orsamus H. MarsHALt, 
*Hon. Natuan K. Hat, 
*Witiiam H. GREENE, 
*ORLANDO ALLEN, 
*OLivER G. STEELE, 
*Hon. JAMES SHELDON, 
*Wiii14m C. Bryant, 
*Capt. E. P. Dorr, 


*Hon. W111 P. Larcaworsm 


*Witiiam H. H. Newman, 
*Hon. Extras 8S. HAWLey, 
*Hon. James M. Smrru, 
*Wiiiiam Hopes, 
*WILLIAM Dana FOBES, . 
*Evmor HaAIngs, . 
*Jamms TILLINGHAST, 
*Witiam K. ALLEN, 
*GrorcE S. Hazarp, . 


*JosprH C. Greene, M. D., 


*JuLivus H. Dawss, 
ANDREW LANGDON, 
Hon. Henry W. Hit, 


*Deceased 


1862 to 1867 
1868 

1869 

1870 

1871 

1872 

1873 

1874 

1875 a 1886 
1876 

1877 

1878 

1879 and 1885 
1880 

1881 

1882 


1883 and 1884 


1887 
1888 
1889 


1890 and 1892 


1891 
1893 


. 1894 to 1909 
LO 


PREFACE 


HIS volume is in the main a narrative of Indian life, by 
an author who, perhaps because of his own Indian 
ancestry, perhaps because of his family associations and his 
peculiar educational equipment, is better qualified to pre- 
sent the red man’s case from the red man’s viewpoint, than. 
could any chronicler of purely Caucasian blood. The why 
and wherefore of the case really matters little. The essen- 
tial and important thing is, that we have here a study of 
Troquois life and character from the pen of one who is not 
merely exceptionally well-informed in his subject, but who 
treats it with an inborn, native sympathy and certainty of 
interpretation. 

It is a fine thing, a happy thing, to be able to picture for 
the reader of to-day, the home life and social status and rela- 
tions of a typical though perhaps exceptionally endowed 
Seneca family. The Parker family, judged by inherent qual- 
ities, would have been notable in any community. Fortu- 
nately, where the white strain came in, it came from clean, 
honest, capable stock. Who that knew her, or knows only 
by tradition and record, of Martha Hoyt, devoted missionary 
to the Senecas when Buffalo was near its beginnings, would 
question that in taking her to wife, Nicholson Parker, the 
Seneca, found a helpmate as loyally devoted to his people 
as though she were of their race. In the long record of white 
and Indian dealings, usually so full of fraud and iniquity, of 
wrong and evil of every sort, it is refreshing to find an instance 
like this. 

Mr. Parker’s sketch of his great-uncle is, obviously and 
successfully, an attempt not merely to trace that worthy’s 
creditable and unique career, but to do justice to his memory, 


vii 


462618 


Vill PREFACE 


and through him, to his people. But our author does much 
more than this. He pictures old-time conditions known for 
the most part only to the Indians themselves. He shows 
that the Senecas on their reservations had better standards 
of living—remembering their ancestral forms and traditions 
—than were held to by many of their white neighbors. Now 
and then—as in Mrs. Laura Parker Doctor’s recollections of 
her grandmother—he gives us a glimpse of more remote 
days, which is like the recovery of a lost page of history. 

Of the author of this volume, the editor may say in his 
Preface what Mr. Parker could not—or would not—say for 
himself. To a large circle of students his work has made him 
so well known that any sketch of it would be superfluous; 
but there are others, into whose hands this book will come, 
who may be grateful for some glimpse of the personality and 
achievements of our author. 


Arthur Caswell Parker was born on the Cattaraugus 
Seneca reservation April 5, 1881. His father, Frederick, a 
graduate of Fredonia Normal School, is a son of the late 
Nicholson Henry Parker, for many years Secretary of the 
Seneca Nation. Nicholson H. Parker was a brother of 
General Ely Samuel Parker, Grant’s Military Secretary and 
the co-worker with Lewis H. Morgan in writing ‘The 
League of the Iroquois.’”’ The mother of Arthur C. Parker 
was Geneva H. Griswold, of Scotch and English descent. 
She was a teacher for five or six years on the Allegany and 
Cattaraugus reservations. 

Mr. Parker’s grandfather’s grandfather was Handsome 
Lake, the Seneca prophet. His paternal grandfather six 
generations back was Old King or Old Smoke (Gaiengwatoh), 
the supposed leader of the Senecas at Wyoming, Pa., and the 


PREFACE ix 


friend of the Rev. Samuel Kirkland. The great-grandmother 
of Mr. Parker was a descendant of a Neuter captive and a 
lineal descendant of Jigonsaseh, “the Peace Queen” of the 
Neuters. She, with Haiowentha and Dekanawida, was a 
founder of the Iroquois League. Nicholson Parker’s sister, 
Caroline, was given this name, Jigonsaseh, as a right of heri- 
tage. She was the wife of Chief John Mountpleasant of 
the Tuscaroras. 

Arthur C. Parker was educated in the reservation schools, 
in White Plains (N. Y.) High School, and in Dickinson Sem- 
inary; and later studied under Frederic W. Putnam, Peabody 
Professor of Anthropology at Harvard University, then Cura- 
tor of Anthropology in the American Museum in New York 
City. 

In 1904 he made contributions of folklore manuscripts 
to the State Library of New York. He previously, 1901- 
1902, had been a field assistant in archaeology for the Amer- 
ican Museum. In 1903 he was, with Mr. Raymond Harring- 
ton, jointly in charge of the Peabody Museum Archaeological 
expedition to Western New York. In 1906 he was appointed 
by the Civil Service Commission (after competitive examina- 
tion) as the Archaeologist of the New York State Museum 
which office he still holds. 

Mr. Parker has practically created a new archaeological 
museum; he has installed special exhibits along new lines, 
and since his appointment has brought in collections of 
Troquois material totaling about 50,000 specimens. The 
Iroquois habitat groups, which are a chief attraction of the 
New York State Museum, are of his conception and execution. 

The list of his principal writings, already a long one, will 
be found with the ‘Editorial Notes” following the Appendix 


x PREFACE 


to this volume. Also, long is the list of his activities in various 
learned societies and other organizations. For four years he 
was the secretary-treasurer of the Society of American 
Indians, having been one of its organizers at Ohio State 
University. He is the founder and editor-general of the 
American Indian Magazine (Washington), formerly the 
Quarterly Journal of the Society of American Indians. He is 
a Fellow of the American Ethnological Society, the American 
Anthropological Society, the American Association for the 
Advancement of Science; and was one of ten American 
archaeologists appointed to represent the science of archae- 
ology at the Pan-American Congress. He is a member of the 
American Sociological Society, the Wisconsin Archaeological 
Society, a life member of the Buffalo Historical Society; 
founder and past president of the Society of American In- 
dians; founder and past president of the Philosophical Society 
of Albany; and active and distinguished in many another 
organization. By the University of Chicago he was awarded 
the Cornplanter medal, for research. He was the originator 
of ‘‘American Indian Day.” It is an imposing and honorable 
list, not by any means exhausted in the foregoing enumera- 
tion; but it is not the present purpose to forestall the encyclo- 
paedia. Let this suffice, with the following, which perhaps 
he alone, of all living scholars and loyal Americans, can say 
with pride and truth: 

“T am a Seneca Indian, whose ancestors from the begin- 
ning have been connected with our history—and all of whom 
have left an indelible impress upon our State and Nation.” 

The Buffalo Historical Society feels justified in devoting 
this volume largely to a review of General Parker’s career, 
for he was one of its most distinguished members—in a 


‘ PREFACE Xi 


membership, we may be pardoned for recalling, which has in- 
cluded two Presidents of the United States, Cabinet officials, 
diplomats and others of high distinction. But the notability 
of Ely S. Parker was and is unique, for he embodied in his 
life and career the best traits of a race always imperfectly 
understood and usually unfairly judged by their white neigh- 
bors. He was a high type of the Iroquois in transition—a 
connecting link between the days of more primitive condi- 
tions and institutions, and a later period, woefully slow in 
coming, when the strong, good qualities of the Iroquois shall 
not only be recognized but encouraged by juster and more 
sympathetic social and governmental conditions. 


This volume, in its principal narrative and in its appen- 
dix, brings together numerous letters and other documents, 
many of them hitherto unpublished, of certain historical 
value. We commend it to our readers as by no means the 
least in interest and historical worth in the lengthening series 
of the Buffalo Historical Society Publications. 

BS AS. 


Historical Building, Buffalo, June, 1919. 


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CONTENTS 


DEL MMMEGMEe a 2 eS TL) 3 ee el oe 
Bummon’s wraopuemon, - - - - - - - «t's = 3 


CHAPTER 
L Tse Mmssurm or tap Mam, - . Ci 7 
IL. Tae VALLEY of Tom Rarm Warum, .. 12 
Ii. How tam Senmcas Manz Waz Uronw Gazatr Barrars, "24 
IV. Tue GranD-DAUGHTHR OF Tow PropemT,..... @ 
; cat con 

71 


W.. Borsoop Days ow Tas RassEvtTiIon, 
Vi. Tas Way tam Twic was Bant, . 
Vil. ieee H. Masses oo cen “Mew Lmeomn or ue 
Imoquom,” .. 72 
VOL. Earty Exesemncm ss ay —_——— AND | Mameeme 
CarnER,. . oy 
Ix. REE Ss eee ee 
SEWARD, - - @ 
> 4 A Secu Meant A iene a Ae ee 
».4 5 Toe Fann of tam ConFmpmEacy, . es eae 
xT. Tes Isocas or mex Daas at Apecuarron, a ee, (oe ee 
XT. Tse Wassior Arrme tea War, -. ee ee 
XV. A Saceum’s Lzerrgzs to 4 Pomruss, .. 162 
XVL. Tee Gerryvssuge Semece oF Geanrs " Mauwany 
SmcgETary, ; : . If 
XVII. Ce ee een 2" eee eee 
SVEEL Toe Bowes oy Rep Jecuet, - - - - ~-.«. -./«28 
XEX. Ter Leer Geese Seo, - - - - Cl !CCC} ae 
APPENDIX 
A Visrr to tax Parxan Homustean, 231 
Tae Bor weo Daz=p to Travan Wasr, 238 
Haspsome Laxe tea Puace Proreazr, 244 
Tse Ruticron or Hannpsom=e Laxa, 251 
Egy S. Pasxer’s Sceoon Days, 262 
“Tex Avertcan Rup May,” 263 
“Trarrs of Ivptan Ceazacten,” 270 
“Tyoran Dances anD THE InFLUENCcES,” . . ae 
Lerren or Ezy S. Panne, outa Aemecemec: Keema, . - 26 
Tse Sacsem av Cearrsnooes, . Leva . . 2 
_ Se : 296 
/ (Gar ee epee eee 
ISTHATION, . ce ete han eS 
Pee ee Sc ome ee San 


_— 


xiv CONTENTS 


EDITORIAL NOTES 


THE KENJOCKETYS, . i i 
Was THE Stocum Captive A Palouse Weenanae? 
“A PropHEecy FULFILLED,” 

GENERAL PaRKER’s NaMg, 

THe MouUNTPLEASANTS, 

Mrs. Harriet Maxwerbi Gonyurael 

“Tue TRIAL OF Rep JACKET,” 

Tue Rep Jacket MEDAL, . 

Troquois ADOPTION, 

Mr. Artuur C. ease 8 Wiens: 
MeEmoranpa, : 

INDEX, 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Eny S. Parker AS GRANT’S SECRETARY, 
Fats OF THE TONAWANDA, 

Ey S. Parker’s PaREnts, 

Oup Farmuovuse, TONAWANDA Poe 
Retics or Harty Days, 

FacstmiLe From E. 8. Parker’s ee) 
Lewis H. Morgan, . 

CaRoLIneE G. Parker, . ? 

Grant’s Heapquartsrs, 1864, : 
GRANT AND STAFF, CotD Harsor, VA., 1864, 
Gen. PARKER AND Miss SACKETT AT nee oF MARRIAGE, 
Ey S. Parker As BRIGADIER GENERAL, 

Nicuotson H. PARKER AND WIFE, 

FREDERICK E. PARKER AND ARTHUR C. Pavia! 
GENERAL PARKER’s Home, FarrFreLp, Conn., 1879, 
ScENE AT REBURIAL OF GENERAL PARKER, BUFFALO, 
GENERAL PARKER IN 1869 AND IN 1894, 

HanpsoME Lakr’s CREDENTIALS, . 

NicHotson Henry Parker, é 

Poster, NicHotson H. Parker’s fegeeercee “1853, 
Puitip KENJOCKETY, 

JOHN AND CAROLINE PARKER ee 

“THe TRIAL OF Rep JACKET,” 

Tue Rep Jacket MEDAL, . 


313 

317 

320 

320 

321 

323 

325 

326 

329 

333 

235 

337 
Frontispiece 
Op. page 32 
Ops 940 
. Op a ares 
Op. 4) 568 
Op." 7G 
Ops hi oinso 
Opi! | 588 
Op." dO 
Op. 128 
Op. “ 146 
Op. “ 162 
Op. “ 188 
Op: vB} 3200 
Op. “ 220 
Ops 226 
Op.“ 228 
Op. “ 250 
Op... i 4262 
. Page 277 
Op. page 314 
Op. “ 320 
Op: » fe 326 
Op. »feme28 


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THE LAST GRAND 
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INTRODUCTION 


In a great steel vault in the New York State Museum 
there reposes a long purple wampum belt. It is the record 
of a great sachemship, the title of the historic Iroquois 
Indian Confederacy. To the expert Indian annalist this 
woven belt of purple shell beads has a hidden meaning and 
preserves in its mysterious strands the story of the rulers 
of a mighty American Empire. 

Not every ‘‘reader of the wampums’’ would tell the same 
story as he handled that sacred belt, but each reader would 
undoubtedly tell his story with accuracy. Outlined in white 
beads made from the columella of the Busycon, five hexa- 
gons display themselves on that belt, each hexagon sym- 
bolizing the council of a nation in the confederacy of 
nations that formed the ‘‘Empire’’ of the Iroquois. The 
white beads are emblematic of purity, peace and integrity 
and teach those qualities to the nations. The dark purple 
beads, softly clicking as you handle the belt, and glittering 
in the light like the scales of a black snake’s skin, symbolize 
royalty, dignity and determination that no adverse in- 
fluence can weaken. The name of that belt is Do-ne-ho- 
ga-wa. That’ word means ‘‘The Door Keeper,’’ and it is 
the title of the last national sachem in the roll of Iroquois 
sachems. Ordinarily it is translated, to reveal its true 
significance, ‘‘The Keeper of the Western Door.’’ Its 
“‘holder’’ was the guard of the Confederacy, the sentinel 
before the door of the emblematic Long House of the Five 
Nations. 


4 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


For many years up to 1852, this belt was the seal of 
office, the badge of title, of Blacksmith, the Tonawanda 
Seneca sachem. Blacksmith died and at the condolence 
ceremony the Ho-ya-neh women of the Five Nations in 
1852 confirmed the nomination of the nations of the Wolf 
clan and bestowed the title and name upon an Indian youth, 
named Ha-sa-no-an-da, or Ely Samuel Parker. From that 
time until his death in 1895 this man held the title. He 
was the sentinel-sachem of a crumbling empire and the last 
to use his office as his forefathers would have wished. 

It is as difficult to make a beginning of this true story as 
it is to end it. It has many beginnings. It is impossible 
to describe all of them for a shifting of the kaleidoscope 
will give us another view. Our plan is to reveal the manner 
of man this Indian was, and to analyze the elements that 
produced him. After all, in our contemplation of great 
men (or even lesser men after we have learned of their 
deeds), do we not search first for the secret of their success- 
ful efforts, and then review the results of those efforts, as 
a matter of secondary importance to us? After we have 
learned what a man has done, if we are ambitious, do we 
not then ask how he managed to do it, and why? Is it 
ancestry that makes the man, is it environment, or is it a 
combination of both with the individual determination to- 
win? Perhaps herein at least may be found the solution 
to one man’s life effort. 

An Indian boy became angry at the insults of an English 
lieutenant. It was not ordinary savage madness, but a 
choking anger that drained the blood from the boy’s face 
and left him trembling and speechless. Then, with the 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 5 


return of the pulsing blood came hot tears and a resolution 
to revenge the insults of that English officer. 

The Indian boy was driving mules; the lieutenant was 
in charge of an outfit of horses, mules and drivers. As a 
first means of revenge the boy left his job and walked nearly 
a hundred miles. Then he went to school. His pride had 
been touched, it had awakened his slumbering spirit and 
his contemplated revenge was not to be of the ordinary 
kind. In his plan he had no desire to do injury to the 
English lieutenant. Indeed, in later years, he totally forgot 
the man who hurt his pride. There is pain in the birth of 
many emotions, but that natal pain, forgotten as real con- 
sciousness comes, indicates the creation of a new force that 
dies or lives according to the creative power of its sire. 

This book is the story of the result of the resolution and 
will power that came when pride was awakened in Ha-sa- 
no-an-da, the Indian boy, and it tells how it brought to him 
a spirit and a determination that lived until the last drop 
of blood had been pumped from the chambers of his heart. 

Great resolutions are the result of strong emotions, and 
the struggle to attain those resolutions makes men. 

The Indian boy whom we have mentioned was the son of 
Jo-no-es-sto-wa, Dragon Fly, otherwise known as William 
Parker, a Tonawanda Seneca chief. Indians, though they 
use their native names among themselves, realize that they 
must have names that English-speaking people can pro- 
nounce and remember without difficulty. The Indian boy 
was therefore called Ely because everyone knew the dis- 
tinguished Mr. Ely of Rochester. 


6 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


It has for some time been the author’s ambition to write 
the life of this man. For twenty years he has gathered the 
meager data that go into the make-up of this volume. As. 
a biographer of incidents the author confesses his failure; 
the aim is not to write of events for the sake of recording 
history, but to mention events as the cause of action, and 
as the elements that went forth to determine the character 
of aman. There are many men whose lives are filled with 
countless thrilling incidents, but here is a man whose life 
is so strange in many of its phases as to be almost tragic. 
With ambitions constantly balked he rebelled not, but philo- 
sophically rose above his obstacles. No defeat was accepted 
as a blow, but as a lesson from which to profit. 


THE LAST GRAND SACHEM OF 
THE IROQUOIS 


OR 
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GEN. ELY S. PARKER 


CHAPTER I 


THE MEASURE OF THE MAN 


In the character of Ely Samuel Parker we have a unique 
American. It is not entirely because he was a Seneca 
Indian of pure lineage, or that he was a citizen of the 
United States and a general in its army that he is called 
unique. He was indeed a successful and distinguished mili- 
tary officer in the Civil War and later a Federal official in 
civil service. Likewise, he was a successful sachem of the 
historic Iroquois League of the Five Nations, and for many 
years, its foremost defender. But the special honor that 
we wish to give him is that he is the only American Indian 
who rose to national distinction and who could trace his 
lineage back for generations to the Stone Age and to the 
days of Hiawatha. First and last he was an Iroquois. In 
any sense or viewpoint he was an American. There is a 
sense in which he was the first American of his time and an 
embodiment of all the heroic ideals that enter into our 
conception of American manhood, 

His life is the story of a man’s struggle against adversity 
—of an effort to achieve; but he was a warrior as well as 
a statesman and found honest philosophy in the fight. How- 
ever we may look at him, we must not lose sight of the fact 


7 


3 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


that he was a red man, a native product of the soil. It is 
not especially because we wish to emphasize race differences, 
but because we are writing history. 

There have been many heroic figures in the annals of the 
American Indian—dignity, poise and native wisdom com- 
bined with intense patriotism have characterized these 
superb men whose history we know but know so imper- 
fectly. American history would lose the peculiar luster of 
its early pages without such names as Philip of Pokanoet, 
Powhatan, King Hendrick, Captain Brant, Tecumseh, 
Dekanisora, Garangula, Black Hawk, Pontiac, Osceola, Red 
Jacket, and Logan. 

We know these men by names, we know something of 
their achievements; but what produced them? Who were 
their sires, their mothers, and what is their background in 
heredity? We cannot answer. 

How grateful we would be to know the genealogy of that 
incomparable hero, Tecumseh, that nobleman of the forest, 
that fiery patriot, that fighter for his people! We should 
welcome the insight into the knowledge of the forces that 
produced him; but the curtain is drawn and we may never 
know. 

The great men of the red race did not vanish with 
Tecumseh and Osceola. They continued to appear and 
even now, in this modern day, there are red men whose 
names are indelibly written in the records of this nation; 
but among the American Indians of the last century none. 
perhaps rose to the height of Ely Samuel Parker, this 
Sachem of the Senecas. Of pure Indian lineage on both 
sides, both history and tradition unite in affording us a 
glimpse of his forefathers and mothers who lived in the 
generation before him. We may know his ancestral setting 
and the hereditary forces that produced him. In this, then, 
he is unique. 

When James F. Kelly, the sculptor of military men, had 
General Parker in his studio in New York. posing for his 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 9 


bust at the request of Mr. Kelly’s mother, the sculptor 
remarked, ‘‘General Parker, in my estimation you are the 
most distinguished Indian who ever lived.’’ 

“‘That is not so,’’ was the laconic reply. ‘‘Better and 
wiser red men lived before me and now live.’’ 

‘“Who are they?’’ asked the sculptor. 

The Indian looked at him curiously and flashed back, 
“*Can it be that you fail to recall Brant and Tecumseh, both 
military men, and a host of others?’’ 

“‘Ah, General,’’ said Mr. Kelly, as he worked on the 
plastic clay, ‘‘I see you have not caught my meaning. I do 
not intend to flatter you; I would not stoop to that—I mean 
that you are a man who has ‘pierced the enemy’s lines.’ 
You have torn yourself from one environment and made 
yourself the master of another. In this you have done 
more for your people than any other Indian who ever 
lived. Had you remained with your people, and of your 
people alone, you might have been a Red Jacket, a Brant 
or a Tecumseh, but by going out and away from them you 
added to the honor that you already had and won equal, 
if not greater, honors among the white people. You proved 
what an Indian of capacity could be in the white man’s 
world. The heroes you name did not. We have no way of 
measuring their capacity in our own standards. We do 
not even know exactly what they said; their speeches were 
all translated by interpreters. But we know what you have 
said as we know what you have done, and that measured by 
our own ideals.’’ 

““That may be true,’’ answered the General to the 
seulptor, ‘‘but why should you test the capacity of the red 
man’s mind in measures that may have an improper scale? 
Do you measure cloth with a balance or by the gallon?’’ 

It was Mr. Kelly’s delight to draw out, in his ingenious 
way, the thoughts of his many distinguished sitters. A 
large box filled with note-books of quarto size attest his 
genius, and from that box came the note-book that has 


10 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IKkOQUOIS 


given many valued facts about General Parker’s army 
career. 

It always pained the General to have men discuss his 
achievements. The testimony of his many friends is that 
he almost never talked about what he had done, unless 
forced by circumstances. His ears were deaf to praise and 
adulation. 

In a confidential letter to Mrs. Harriet Maxwell Converse 
he wrote: 

“‘T am credited or charged by you with being ‘great,’ 
‘powerful,’ and finally crowned as ‘good.’ Oh, my guardian 
genius, why should I be so burdened with what I am not 
now and never expect to be! All my life I have oceupied a 
false position. I have lost my identity and look about me in 
vain for my original being.’’ 

Modesty is an attribute of true greatness, and General 
Parker in spite of his dislike of being “‘talked about’’ and 
his disavowal of having done exceptional things, is emi- 
nently deserving of the laurels of greatness. He was great 
because he was a man who labored unselfishly for his 
brother man. In this he was not unlike the great culture 
heroes of the famous Iroquois league, Ji-gon-sa-seh, De-ka- 
na-wi-da, and Hiawatha, who in the misty centuries before, 
had established the Iroquois Empire State and created a 
government that in its day ruled half of North America. 
Each of these great personages about whom have clustered 
many invented tales, was a living person and not a myth. 
Each was a great constructive force and each was modest 
and unassuming. 

Ely 8S. Parker was a descendant of Ji-gon-sa-seh, the 
Great Woman, ‘‘the mother of nations.’’ His sachemship 
name was Do-ne-ho-ga-wa, and bearing that name, by right 
of descent, he held the honored office of ‘‘Keeper of the 
Western Door’’ of the historic ‘‘Long House of the 
Troquois.”’ 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 1k 


Colden, Hale and Morgan have written well of the League 
of the Five Nations of the Iroquois, and the strength of 
the League in its glory is well known to historians. Suffice 
for us to say that it had a strongly centralized constitu- 
tional government, ruled by fifty hereditary ho-ya-ne, or 
civil sachems. Its object was to establish universal peace 
and to make the Iroquois the arbiters of the great ‘‘earth- 
island.”’ 

The wampum codes of De-ka-na-wi-da and his helper, 
Hiawatha, furnished an almost ideal code for the ethnic 
culture with which it was designed to cope. By holding to 
their old laws the Iroquois became the dominant power east 
of the Mississippi and during colonial days exercised an 
immense influence in determining the fate of English civi- 
lization on the continent. As allies of the British they 
fought for it and in the end they destroyed all the hopes of 
France for colonization. They cast their lot with the 
British and at-a critical period saved the Atlantic seaboard 
for an English-speaking people. 

From the beginning, the ancestors of Ely Samuel Parker 
had fought for progress and enlightenment and fought as 
strenuously with mind as with muscle. 


42 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


CHAPTER II 


THE VALLEY OF THE RAPID WATER 


The story of this red man does not begin with his birth. 
His race, his country, his ancestral and geographical 
setting, all have much to do with it. These things all 
determined the beginning of the man. His birth only 
determined his individuality. To know the elements you 
must learn, as he learned, of the extirpated Neutral Nation 
and of the Tonawanda. 

The Neutral Nation (so called because it would war upon 
neither the Wyandots, Hurons, nor the Iroquois), was a 
populous tribe, having many towns on the Niagara penin- 
sula in Ontario and four or five villages in the region we 
now know as the Niagara frontier in New York. Their 
eastern boundary line was probably the Genesee, and the 
western line probably Buffalo creek, though some say it 
extended to Eighteen-mile creek. To the west of their 
dominion in New York and stretching westward in Penn- 
sylvania, lay the land of the Eries. Near them were two 
sub-tribes, known as the Wenroes! and the Kah-Kwas. All 
these tribes were an industrious agricultural people, liv- 
ing in large palisaded towns with bark houses of consider- 
able size. They were expert hunters and skilled erafts- 
men in flint working and pottery making. Their pots and 
pipes were famous for their beauty and on the sites of their 
ancient towns the broken pieces of their cooking vessels may 
be found in enormous quantities. The Eries, the Neutrals 
and the Five Iroquois nations all belonged to the same 
cultural stock, known as the Huron-Iroquois. They spoke a 
common stock language and had a common origin. Except 
in minor details their religion, their myths and traditions 


1. Wen-roh-ro-non, People-of-the floating-scum. 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE I[kOQUOIS 13 


were the same. Their name for themselves was Ongwe-oweh, 
meaning Real Men. Thus every member of the Huron- 
Iroquois stock considered himself ‘‘Oweh’’ or truly human; 
other races were of ‘‘uncertain origin.’’ Certain it was the 
Iroquois creation myth did not account for them. Inasmuch 
as they could understand each other’s tongue and had com- 
mon traditions, they had more or less racial sympathy, but 
there were disputes over boundaries, and political rights 
that eventually brought trouble—and no enemies can be 
more bitter than those who have once been friends or who 
as relatives have turned against each other. The Iroquois 
for generations hated the Hurons because of their alliance 
with their enemies on the St. Lawrence, and so the Hurons 
and the Iroquois fought, but the Neutrals would fight 
neither, for in their tribe lived a woman who was a direct 
descendant of the ‘‘sky mother’’ who came to earth from 
heaven. Moreover, in their territory were the towns of 
refuge where enemies or fugitives might find shelter and 
where exiles might stay until the time came for them to 
return home for execution or for forgiveness. 

In 1651 the Iroquois charged the Neutrals with treachery 
and violation of the ancient compact. The first result was 
the capture and destruction of the Neutral town near the 
present site of Buffalo. The tale was often related at the 
Parker fireside, for the old chiefs who came to feast and 
council with the grandfathers oft would tell how the war 
was pushed with all the customary energy of the Iroquois, 
and the Neutral Nation was speedily conquered. Hundreds 
of captives were brought into the Seneca towns and 
adopted. The Jesuit ‘“‘Black-robes’’ in 1669 had found 
some of their old Neutral converts in one of the Seneca 
towns in the present Ontario county, their records say. 

Students of history, especially Iroquois history, should 
have clearly in their minds that when the Iroquois ‘‘exter- 
minated’’ or ‘‘annihilated’’ another tribe they did not 


14 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


destroy the entire body of people. Quite the contrary, 
surrender meant clemency and a subsequent adoption into 
the Iroquois clans. The warriors of the enemy who had 
fought fiercely were sometimes singled out for torture, it is 
true, but those who manifested their ‘‘good will’’ toward 
the Iroquois by quietly submitting, were treated well. They 
became in a sense slaves, but their children were free-borr. 
and had every right of an Iroquois. 

One fact, too, that historians have neglected to appreciate, 
is that the Senecas often left little towns of their conquered 
vassals and placed over them an Iroquois governor. There 
were several of these settlements west of the Genesee after 
the Neutral-Erie wars. It will be remembered that in 
later days Shikellamy was made governor of the conquered 
tribes in the Susquehanna valley. Many of the conquered 
Neutrals were not absorbed for several generations and as 
late as 1800 Sken-dyuh-gwa-dih or Beyond-the-multitude, 
whose Indian name had been anglicized to John Kenjockety, 
lived with his family on Kenjockety creek within the 
present limits of the corporation of Buffalo. Kenjockety 
was a Neutral and the fact was well known. His loyalty to 
his adopted people was intense, and Rev. Samuel Kirkland, 
in 1788, called him ‘‘the second man of influence and char- 
acter among the Senecas at Buffalo.’’ Kenjockety pro- 
tested to Governor George Clinton in 1789, remonstrating 
against a sale of Seneca land which he deemed unauthor- 
ized. Later he was a joint agent with Red Jacket for the 
Seneeas in determining the boundaries of the Seneca 
dominion, going with the Hon. Augustus Porter who sur- 
veyed for the State of New York, the Buffalo ‘‘gore.’’ 

But if Kenjockety’s ancestors had escaped the arrows ot 
the Senecas and the fiery torture, he did not escape the 
white man’s fire-water. He died at an advanced age in 
1808 while on a spree. He had just been to Buffalo village. 
and, leaving town under the influence of liquor, died on 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE I[kOQUOIS 15 


the way home. He left numerous descendants and a farm 
on Squaw Island—and thus passed the last great Neutral 
to the quiet realms ‘‘beyond the multitude.’’ 

Opposite Grand Island on the American shore, is the 
mouth of a considerable stream. It rises in two branches, 
and fiows with various windings westwardly and a little 
south, through a fertile region. It is the ‘‘Swift water 
stream,’’ Tonawanda creek. Tonawanda creek was the 
route of the mid-country trail from the Genesee country 
to Niagara. From time immemorial its valley had been 
occupied by forest dwellers of various tribes. Early it had 
been the home of mound-building Indians who journeyed, 
no doubt, up from the Niagara River. Indeed its mouth, 
being near the great falls, must have invited the visits of 
many aboriginal adventurers. In later centuries the 
Neutral Nations had claimed it and built their scattered 
villages on its pleasant banks. 

Some of the most interesting tales, told at the fireside of 
the Parker family in the old days, were these stories of the 
Neutral Nation and its destruction. One tale to which the 
writer as a boy listened with great glee, told how a few 
young warriors had frightened an entire town of Neutrals 
and driven them into the forest after burning their bark 
houses and plundering their stores. Now and then old 
warriors of the Senecas would come in to smoke a pipe and 
listen to the tale the grandfather told, just to see that he 
was telling it right to his grandchildren. They would all 
nod and say, ‘‘Heh!’’ to show their interest when he told 
of the little band of Seneca warriors, who paddling almost 
noiselessly down the river until within sight of the Neutral 
town, had captured it by a single war-whoop. The river 
had a sharp bend and formed a loop curving directly around 
the town. Thus canoe after canoe would float down and 
by the town, and, when a little way below, the warriors 
would steer for shore, port across the tongue, re-embark 


16 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


and float down again. To the frightened Neutrals it seemed 
as if the Iroquois had filled the river from end to end and 
were sending thousands of warriors against them. So they 
sorrowfully abandoned their homes at the first war-whoop 
and retreated into the forest without even giving battle. 
It is little wonder that the potency of the Iroquois war-cry 
became famous. It is little wonder that the ery of ‘‘the 
Mohawks!’’ set all New England in a panic. 

The Senecas early had a village near the mouth of the 
‘*Swift Water’’ but later abandoned it for a town farther 
up stream. When the French anchored at the mouth of 
the creek they named it ‘‘La riviére aux bois-blanes,’” 
meaning ‘‘the white-wood river,’’ but on some of the earlier 
maps it is known as Maskinongez, after the famous game 
fish, the muskalunge. The stream once abounded with these 
gamy, under-water people and it is not to be thought strange 
that the sport-loving Seneca carefully bated his bone fish- 
hook with a frog and drew it up and down the ‘“‘swift 
water’’ stream, in the pools where the muskalunge made his 
nest. Thus we may readily believe that the ereek and 
valley attracted many a bronzed aboriginal and indeed large 
parties of explorers and home-seekers. All along the valley, 
whether the plain is wide or the cliff over the stream is 
high, one will find broken fiints, fragments of crushed pot- 
tery and now and then protruding bones. 

The great village of the Neutral Nation had been near 
Lewiston. It is recorded in our documentary histories as 
Kieuneka or Ga-o-no-geh. There had been the home of the 
‘‘mother of the nation’’—the ‘‘fire woman,’’ as some have 
called the female ruler of the nation. Another important 
town was on Grand Island. Tradition makes it one of the 
towns of refuge. The secret of its existence long remained 
obscured until Frederick Houghton, principal of a public 
school in Buffalo, and archeologist of the Buffalo Society of 
Natural Sciences, sought it out in 1910 and dug up many 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE I[kOQUOIS 17 


of its buried relics.2, The Senecas had long had traditions of 
Grand Island, some vague and some fanciful, but all indi- 
cating that they had a certain reverence for it. 

Likewise the Tonawanda valley to them was a chosen 
region, and after the bloody war of 1651, in which the Five 
Nations triumphed over the Neuters and adopted the sur- 
vivors, all this fair country fell into the keeping of the 
Senecas. The western end of the ‘‘Long House,’’ as they 
called their confederacy, was then extended from its orig- 
inal location on the Genesee and placed against Lake Erie. 
Small settlements began to be made and the Tonawanda 
land and water trail became a commoner highway than 
before. With the destruction of the Erie Nation three 
years later all the western New York country, the Alle- 
gheny and the territory west into the Ohio became Seneca 
dominion. 

The Tonawanda valley was not entirely wooded; there 
were ancient clearings here and there, but in general there 
were thick forests of basswood, of pine and hemlock, 
together with tracts of hardwood timber, such as oak. The 
“‘swift water’’ runs over broken beds of slate with here 
and there a little fall. Midway. however, is a beautiful! 
cascade of some height, and on either side below it, high 
cliffs with mossy sides. Along the creek for several miles 
west of this point the Tonawanda Senecas have their 
modern reservation. It is fertile country in general with 
rolling uplands above the limestone escarpment and sandy 
loam that in denuded spots show stiff clay. 

The Senecas did not gain this country without a struggle 
nor did they retain it after the white man came, without 
another. They won it in a fair fight in the ficld against a 
hostile, treacherous foe; and they again fought for it, this 
time in courts and with brains and wit instead of arrows 
and war clubs—but the foe as before, was a treacherous 
one, and hostile. 


2. Vide, Bulletin, Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences, Vol. X, No. 2 


18 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


With the sale of the Genesee country and its loss in part 
through fraud, many of the Genesee Senecas removed to 
Tonawanda. It was the nearest refuge. Others pushed on 
to Buffalo Creek, while still others went to Cattaraugus or 
down the Allegheny. 

As a reserved tract Tonawanda was set aside by the 
treaty of Big Tree in 1797. It then covered seventy-one 
square miles. Today, however, only 6,550 aeres remain. 
The red man still clings to the tenth of his original holding, 
and it is to be hoped that the possession of that shrunken 
tenth will mean at least a ‘‘nine-tenths right’’ to hold it for 
many generations more. 

One of the most distinguished families of Seneea Castle 
on Seneca Lake, the present site of Geneva, moved to the 
Allegheny country, settling at Dyo-ne-go-no, or Cold 
Spring. Later they moved farther down the river and 
built their homes at Dyo-no-sa-de-ga or Burnt Houses, later 
known as Cornplanter’s town. About this time when the 
Senecas were demoralized and broken, there arose a 
prophet. He was Handsome Lake or Ga-nio-dai-u, one of 
the Sachems of the League. With great vigor he proclaimed 
his revelations and there rallied to his support a consider- 
able number of converts. Like many prophets of old he 
was inclined to do eccentric things, and this was more than 
even the benighted Indians could stand. They arose and 
drove him out, he and his family, his converts and his 
friends. <A ‘‘revelation’’ pointed the way to Tonawanda. 
Therefore, Handsome Lake, with Joi-e-sey, Ga-wa-so-wa-neh 
and a host of others who believed, took up their journey 
over the hills and valleys to the land of the ‘‘swift water.’’ 
The prophet probably did much thinking as he traveled 
and no doubt determined not to have any more visions 
about big snakes under the river. At Allegany he had 
such a revelation and set hundreds of the work-shirking 
warriors digging frantically into the bottom lands. They 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IkOQUOIS 19 


threw up great banks of earth and penetrated below the 
bottom of the river but not a sign of the monster snake 
could they find. When the prophet explained that the 
creature had crawled under the mountains and was eating 
out the heart of the earth like a worm in an apple, the 
Allegheny people arose in wrath. They half suspected the 
prophet was going to order them to dig down the moun- 
tains. It was hard enough to hoe corn and hill up the beans 
without looking for reptiles inside the limestone spurs of 
the Alleghenys. They hoped the beast would fill himself 
with rocks and then choke to death. He could die that 
way for all they cared. The reptile was allowed to eat his 
way through the hills but the prophet found that it would 
not be easy for himself. He had to pack up and depart 
for regions where he could no longer penetrate the earth 
with his enchanted eye and see snakes a mile long and 
with teeth that would crush boulders like chestnuts. But 
then, there are always persons who are skeptical of signs 
and wonders. How comforting it was to have a few who 
pelieved and would sacrifice to uphold their faith! Why 
should we of today smile in our superiority when many 
other people in the days gone by followed prophets with 
far less to commend them than Handsome Lake? Do we 
not, even now, expend our energies seeking shadows and 
puild our hopes on idle dreams? Handsome Lake had a 
great end in view and accomplished it. He was no self- 
seeking imposter, but a prophet with an unselfish purpose. 

Among those who went with him were three brothers who 
had acquired the English surname of Parker. The boys 
were named Samuel, Henry and William. Not much is 
known of Henry but Sam was a stalwart young warrior 
and hardened to the chase, while William at this time was 
a small boy of eight or nine. The journey to them was 
an excursion and they basked under the favor of the 
prophet, ejected though he was. The family settled at 


20 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


Tonawanda and Sam and William grew up together there- 
Whether William became tired of the prophet’s teachings 
or not or whether he commenced to see through it all, we 
do not know. However, in later years he became a Baptist 
and married the prophet’s great grand-daughter, a young 
woman of wondrous beauty. 

His mother had chosen as their new home a command- 
ing location near the beautiful falls of Tonawanda ereek 
and indeed their little farm sloped down to its very banks- 
The Parker homestead was built of logs.® It was large and 
roomy, for a log dwelling, and with its several additions 
became a real ‘‘establishment,’’ and the stopping place in 
later years of many distinguished visitors both red and 
white. Their names are well known to the student of his- 
tory, for they were men who made history. 

The Parker home as rebuilt in later years was set well 
back from the road. Log dwelling though it was, its size 
made it more than a cabin, while the tall poplars and other 
trees carefully trimmed about it gave the place an air of 
permanence.+ The land about it was cleared, for William 
was a worker and his wife, Ga-ont-gwut-twus, a woman who 
inspired him to do his utmost. She was ho-ya-neh, that is, 
of the noble families, the company of women who held the 
sachemship titles. It was therefore not for him to shirk. 
His home, his farm and its surroundings should be the 
finest. It was indeed fine in its day and its setting as 
romantic as it was picturesque. There were deep woods 
filled with game, flowing streams filled with fish, and below 
the booming falls were deep fishing holes. 

The years have passed. but a portion of the old log house 
remains. It is. however, now on white man’s land, for the 
Senecas lost a large portion of their Tonawanda country— 


3. The first house was a roomy one-story cabin used afterward as the kitcher 
of the larger establishment of later years. 


4. This house was 40 by 50 feet with one large room below, a second story 
with four rooms and a garret above. The first cabin served as a kitchen addition. 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 21 


nine-tenths of it, as we have said. With the change, the 
dress of nature changed. Its geography remained, it is 
true—the falls, the creek, the hills are there, but the forests, 
the game, the romances have gone. 

It may seem strange that an Indian with little or no 
associations with the whites and no European blood should 
take the name of Parker. There have been many inquiries 
as to the origin of this name. In General Parker’s notes 
the answer is found. An English officer had been captured 
and in the Iroquois way adopted. This was back in the 
Revolutionary days just before Sullivan’s destructive raid 
through the Seneca country. The Englishman’s name was 
Parker. He lived for some time with the family of his 
adoption, was given a Seneca name and adopted into the 
Hawk clan. He became very fond of the two boys who 
then constituted the family and was a cordial and helpful 
companion to the old father. When the time came for his 
return to Canada he bestowed his surname, Parker, upon 
his adopted father and foster-uncle.° To the two boys 
likewise he gave English names. One he named Samuel 
and the other Henry; William was born later. This 
‘bestowal of English names was a great advantage but the 
family still preserved its Seneca names and always used 
them among themselves. The father never used the English 
appellation. The only English names used by Wilham’s 
father, as far as can be discovered, was Little Smoke, but 
the was known to the Senecas as Joy-e-sey. His brother 
-~was the well known leader, Young King. Their father was 
the celebrated Gai-yen-gwa-toh, or Disappearing Smoke, 
whose history is as thrilling as that of any character in 
Indian romance. The story of his part in the raid at 
Wyoming is a stirring one and one that his loyal and 
patriotic descendants in later years spoke very lightly of, if 
they spoke of it at all. It was not a war record to make an 


5. This brother of the “original Parker” married the offspring of the captive 
Slocum woman and a French military officer from Canada. 


22 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IKOQUOIS 


American unduly proud; but the old man had only done 
his duty and fought as an ally of Great Britain. His home 
town was known as Ga-nun-da-sa-ga, or to the whites as: 
Kanandesaga or Old Town. This ancient village was sur- 

rounded by a palisade and an earthen wall and was a vil- 

lage of the ancient Iroquois type. It was sometimes called 

Seneca Castle by the English traders who wandered in from. 

Fort Johnson. Disappearing Smoke or Old Kine was 

known to Rey. Samuel Kirkland and to Sir William John-- 
son, as the foremost leader of his nation, a friend to be 

sought and a foe to be feared. Col. Stone in the ‘‘Life of 
Red Jacket’’ tells us: ‘‘Old Smoke was the most powerful, 

as he was deemed the wisest sachem of his time. He was. 
the principal sachem, or civil chief of the nation, and his. 
word was law. When he thought proper to convene a@ 
council it was only for the purpose of announcing his inten- 

tions and none said nay to his behests. His infallibility 
was never questioned.’’ 

The older men of the Senecas who remembered his in- 
fluence described him as a man of great stature and of 
commanding presence. He seemed to be a man who loved 
justice for its own sake, and even though he was a savage 
whose glimpse of civilization was slight indeed, he opposed 
any plan for the Iroquois to take part in the Revolutionary 
War. It is said, too, that his defense of Rev. Samuel Kirk- 
land, whose life was in peril at the hands of the Senecas who: 
had accused him of bewitching the man who had sheltered 
and fed him, was a wondrous example of native eloquence. 
It bore down all opposition, cleared Kirkland and brought 
forth a burst of cheer-cries that made the council house 
ring with their vehemence. And this same man led his 
warriors into the Wyoming Valley: and massacred the 
white inhabitants there. So contrary is human nature! 
Let is be said, however. that Old King was under the 
direction of the English Tories—these savage white men 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 23 


who murdered their own kin—but so far as known at the 
Wyoming ‘‘massacre,’’ not a single woman or child was 
killed. Of the two forces the Seneca Indians showed far 
greater humanity than ‘‘the envenomed hate of their Tory 
allies that showed no relenting.’’ Little Smoke and his 
noted brother, Young King, fled to the British Fort at 
Niagara during the heart-breaking, nation-breaking, raid 
of Major John Sullivan. Later he settled at Buffalo creek 
and then moved down on the Allegheny. After his wife’s 
journey to Tonawanda with Handsome Lake he built a 
lonely cabin and died shortly after. He would neither fol- 
low the prophet nor his family who followed the prophet’s ~ 
teachings. In his life he had been taciturn—in habit a 
hunter and wanderer, but from the faith of his fathers he 
would not wonder, not even when his wife and his boys 
followed the ‘‘new light’’ into the valley of the ‘‘rapid 
water.’’ Rather he would follow the paths of his fathers 
to the happy hunting-ground and discover the true light 
there. 


24 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


CHAPTER III 


HOW THE SENECAS MADE WAR UPON 
GREAT BRITAIN 


The first decade of the Nineteenth century was one of 
readjustment for the Senecas. The victory of the American 
colonists had proved the power of the ‘‘Thirteen Fires’”’ 
and the weakness of the British as allies and as a continental 
power. The years that followed the destructive raid of 
Major General John Sullivan, in which he burned nearly 
every town of the Iroquois, west of the Oneidas, gave the 
Senecas time for much serious thinking. White men could 
be as savage as they, they well knew, but that this fury 
would turn to fire and blast their dominion as it did, they 
never dreamed. They learned the power of the whites and 
their defenseless condition when attacked at home. The 
tables were turned and Sullivan’s men played the savage, 
even to skinning a young Seneca to make leather for 
leggings. Their ancient farms were devastated and thou- 
sands of bushels of corn burned and thrown into the rivers. 
The Senecas abandoned their old home-land and fled to the 
protection of the British at Fort Niagara. Never as a 
people did they resume their old seats on the “‘river beauti- 
ful,’’ the Jen-nes-see-u. They settled at Buffalo or wan- 
dered off into Ohio with their broken vassals, the Eries 
and Neuters, who in small numbers camped there. Those 
who remained dwelt in bitterness of spirit and stalked about 
like dead men, dreaming, meditating, but only half seeing 
or hearing. 

Then came the seeret word from Ohio. It roused the 
restless young men to life. It spread like the wind and 
fanned to a flame the patriotism of the young Senecas who 
had been but babes when the boom of Sullivan’s cannon 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IkOQUOIS 25 


spoke the doom of Seneca power. The word which came 
was whispered into the ears of the young men lest the old 
become hostile. It told of a great leader who had arisen, 
who had proclaimed that if all the red men of the continent 
would unite and fight, the invading white man could be 
driven out. The great ‘‘earth-island’’ again should belong 
to the red man alone as their supreme possession. The name 
of Tecumseh became a watchword to the young men who 
regarded him as the hero of the race. His plan for a mighty 
league of the tribes who should unite to resist further 
encroachment of the invading whites appealed to their 
natural love of country. It made them aspire for great 
things and served to revive their hopes as a people. 

True, the Iroquois of New York lived in tracts of country 
entirely surrounded by white settlers and had been at peace 
since the Revolutionary War. The chiefs were friendly 
with their white neighbors, but notwithstanding all this 
the young men had not yet seen that their salvation lay in 
learning all the good things the settlers had to teach and 
eschewing the evils they brought. They felt a consciousness 
that their race had been wronged and thought it patriotism 
to revenge it and seek to make the land the red man’s 
undisputed own. Many of the younger men hurried west 
to join the forces of Tecumseh and the prophet or ally 
themselves with Little Turtle, the Miami. This bold idea 
was opposed with vigor both by Red Jacket and Handsome 
Lake. The latter used his influence to dissuade his con- 
verts from having anything to do with the affairs of the 
western tribes against the Americans. Handsome Lake 
was a “‘peace prophet’’ and urged his people to obey the 
precepts that he claimed to have received from the ‘‘four 
messengers’’ from the land above the sky. In this respect 
he was directly opposed to Elskawata, the “‘war prophet”’ 
of the Shawnees who was fostering, by convenient revela- 
tions, the plans of his brother Tecumseh. In other respects, 


26 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IkOQUOIS 


however, there are strange similarities between the moral 
teachings of the two prophets, and their ideas of the here- 
after are quite identical. 

Red Jacket, that vigilant guard of the Seneeas, went to 
the various councils in the West which were held in the 
interests of Tecumseh’s confederacy, and was particularly 
conspicuous at the council of Detroit. The largest inter-- 
tribal council held for generations had met there. With 
Red Jacket were many of the finest examples of Seneca 
manhood to be found in the nation. The Senecas, haughty 
in their demeanor, manifested a keen consciousness of their 
glory. Upon the first day a spirited debate arose as to the 
right of precedence in debate. This was a delicate point 
of honor. The Wyandots claimed it but Red Jacket, ignor- 
ing their able chiefs, arose and with such a brilliant oration 
argued for the Senecas that no one afterward disputed him. 
The intimate knowledge that he displayed of the history 
and traditions of all the tribes gathered before him was too 
profound, and some of it too galling to be disputed. Not 
one wished to argue against Red Jacket’s assumption of 
the superiority of the Senecas. Then, as his turn came to 
voice the ideas of the Seneca nation, he argued for peace 
and afterward consistently worked to prevent the members 
of the Iroquois League from entering into conflict with the 
whites under the leadership of Tecumseh. 

Just to digress, suppose that the gallant leader had sue- 
ceeded in getting the solid support of the Six Nations, 
embittered as they were by the suffering and humiliation 
they had endured through Sullivan and Brodhead? Sup- 
pose the Iroquois. stung with their former ignominious 
defeat, had again taken up the tomahawk and wielded it 
with their ancient vigor, might not Tippecanoe have been 
won by the red man and that battlefield be described differ- 
ently in the pages of history? But Tecumseh was not there 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IkOQUOIS 2k 


and the Six Nations as a unit held back their experienced. 
warriors. 

Perhaps there was a reason for delaying or refusing to: 
engage in such a momentous undertaking. Perhaps there 
was another and more poignant reason than the bans of 
the prophet and the logic of Red Jacket. Every Iroquois. 
today knows the reason why the tomahawk lay buried deep: 
and why they continued friendly with the whites. 

The Iroquois were grateful to Washington. It was he 
who had shown them merey and preserved for them at. 
least a portion of their ancient domain in New York, when 
the entire country clamored for their removal into the- 
West. The treaty at Fort Stanwix in 1784 gave the Six. 
Nations a guarantee of their lands, diminished though they 
were. Many of the people were not satisfied but as Corn- 
planter in 1790 expressed the general thought of the natiom: 
to Washington: ‘‘. When you gave us peace, we 
called you Father because you promised to secure us in the: 
possession of our lands. Do this and so long as the lands 
remain, that beloved name will live in the heart of every 
Seneca.’’ The name was Town Destroyer, the Seneca name 
for George Washington. 

Six or seven months after the mid-winter war council of 
the Senecas called to discuss the impending war with Great 
Britain, a general meeting of the Onondagas and Senecag: 
was held at the residence of Hon. Erastus Granger, then 
superintendent of the Senecas. Judge Granger pleaded 
with the Senecas to remain neutral and reminded them of 
Washington’s advice, ‘‘That you take no part in the quar- 
rels with the white people.’’ Even Red Jacket deplored: 
that the Canadian Mohawks of Brant’s party were bound 
to fight as British allies, even as they had done before. 
This embittered the two divisions of the Iroquois and 
caused a breach that even yet has not entirely healed. Both: 
Judge Granger and Red Jacket made impressive speeches. 


28 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


and the outcome was so important in the minds of the 
people that the first book published in Buffalo was a record 
of the speeches of Granger and Red Jacket. 1 

The rumblings of the war disturbed many of the 
inhabitants of the village of Buffalo. They were in a posi. 
tion exposed on all sides to danger. The British were 
opposite and the Indians swarmed all around them. Many 
left the village and sought refuge beyond the frontier. 
Fears were entertained that the New York Indians were in 
reality under the influence of the British, through the 
Canadian Mohawks who were constantly visiting them. I+ 
was under this apprehension that Judge Granger called the 
council to explain the reasons of the war. Red Jacket 
afterward alluded to the fear of the residents of Buffalo 
and said as he unrolled the great George Washington treaty 
belt that the whites should never regard an Indian Council 
as serious, nor regard it as a dangerous thing unless the 
national wampums were brought forth and displayed. He 
scoffed at the panic that resulted from a fisherman’s fight 
on the banks of the creek. 

On June 6, 1812, the British were reported to have taken 
forcible possession of Grand Island, the property of the 
Seneca Nation. The Senecas would now no longer promise 
neutrality. A council was called at Buffalo reservation, 
“‘the old council fire of the nations’? was kindled and a 
general proclamation was issued. Red Jacket, who but a 
few days before had argued for peace and who had dis. 
played the famous Washington treaty wampum, now 
argued for war. The British had seized the lands under 
the dominion of the Senecas! War should be declared! 
As allies of the United States the Six Nations of New York 


1. “Public Speeches, delivered at the village of Buffalo on the 6th and 8th 
days of July, 1812, by Hon. Erastus Granger, Indian Agent and Red Jacket, one 
of the principal chiefs and speakers of the Seneca Nation, respecting the part the 
Six Nations would take in the present war against Great Britain. Buffalo: Printed 
and sold by S. H. and H. A. Salisbury—Sold also at the Canandaigua and Geneva 
‘ookstores—1812.” 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 29 


would punish the invaders. The declaration of war read 
as follows: 

‘““We the chiefs and councillors of the Six Nations of 
Indians residing in the State of New York, do hereby pro; 
claim to all the war chiefs and warriors of the Six Nations, 
that war is declared on our part against the provinces of 
Upper and Lower Canada. Therefore we hereby command 
and advise all the war chiefs of the Six Nations to call forth 
immediately the warriors under them, and put them in 
motion to protect their rights and liberties. which our 
brethren the Americans are now defending.’’ 

The call was generally respected and later on, September 
28, 1812, a memorial was sent out from the ancient capital 
of the League of the Iroquois at Onondaga in which it was 
said, ‘‘We are few in number, and can do but little, but 
our hearts are good.’’ They might have added. ‘‘likewise 
our weapons, too, are good and our aim unsurpassed.”’ 

When the council at Buffalo on August 4th was ealled, 
Red Jacket mentioned the rumor of the British occupation 
of Grand Island. In addressing Judge Granger, he said: 


Brother! Our property is taken possession of by the British and 
their Indian friends. It is necessary for us now to take up the busi- 
ness and defend our property and drive the enemy from it. If we 
sit still upon our seats and take no measure of redress, the British 
according to the customs of you white people, will hold it by conquest, 
and should you conquer Canada, you will claim it upon the same 
principles, as conquered from the British. We therefore request per- 
mission to go with our warriors and drive off these bad people and 
take possession of our lands. 


Little Billy, one of the wise councillors of the Senecas, 
on September 8, 1812, at Buffalo, made a stirring address 
in which he explained most logically the situation of his 
people: 


Brother! I have spoken of the pains we have taken to preserve 
peace. Your agents have done the same, but in vain. We went to 


30 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


Grand river, [Canada] lately, to keep peace, but in vain. The path 
of peace is broken in every part. We find no place to flee to, where 
there is peace now. Upon this subject we have been deliberating. 


Brother! I have said we have come with all the others to seek 
the path of peace. We find there is no path left for us, but between 
us and the United States. It is cut off in every other direction. 


Agreeably to your communication we, the Senecas, shall now pre- 
pare to defend ourselves against the common enemy. It is true we 
haye friends on the other side, but we are exposed to the blow as well 
as you and must prepare to meet it. 


We know of no other way to preserve peace but to rise from 
our seats and defend our own fire-sides, our wives and our children. 


We hope you will not ask us to cross over. Those who go, must 
go voluntarily. We wish to act only on the defensive. Part of the 
Onondagas and Cayugas who live with us, agree with us. 


We volunteer; we must act under our own chiefs, according to 
‘our own customs; be at liberty to take our own course in fighting; we 
ean not conform to your discipline in camp. So far as we can we 
will conform to your customs. 


We volunteer for this service. We wish you not to place us in 
forts, where we can not act. You know what took place at Detroit; 
an army was sold; we wish not to be sold! 


Among the Senecas were many whose ancestors of a 
century and a half before had been captured and adopted 
in the war with the Neuter Nation. Although the laws of 
the League commanded its adopted members to ‘‘forever 
forget their own tribal origin and to know themselves 
henceforth and forever as Iroquois,’’ yet in actual fact 
the people so adopted seldom forgot, and the knowledge 
of their tribal origin was passed down to their children. 
Thus it was that there were many Senecas who felt an 
interest in defending Grand Island, besides that of pro- 
tecting their nation’s dominion. To the descendants of 
the Neutral Nation’s captives, it meant the defence of the 
graves of their forefathers. To be sure there was no loud 
discussion over the matter. It was contrary to convention 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 31 


and besides it was not etiquette to mention the dead, 
especially to mention them in connection with trouble. It 
was a belief that their spirits heard such things and would 
be disturbed. 

One of the descendants of these Neutral captives was 
Elizabeth, the grand-daughter of Sos-he-o-wa. Her mother 
held as her birthright the ancient title of the Ye-go-wa-neh, 
the ‘‘Fire woman,’’ and the “‘Mother of Nations.’’ This 
was the most honored hereditary title any Iroquois woman 
could have. Elizabeth and her mother were therefore con- 
cerned with the coming struggle for Grand Island, captured 
by the insolent British, for it was ancestral domain. 

William Parker was otherwise concerned. It was enough 
to know that his people had been insulted and that there 
‘was a glorious chance to fight. He was young and had 
never yet had a chance to battle. He longed to redeem the 
honor of the Senecas and the weak retreat of his fathers 
from the Genesee country before the army of Major 
Sullivan. 

The call to arms gave rise to great industry among the 
Iroquois. They had arms and equipment to get and many 
of them spent hours carving out war-clubs and hammering 
out iron spear-heads. Some of these war-clubs are now in 
the State Museum at Albany. They were not used, for the 
Troquois agreed to fight under ‘‘civilized rules’’ and to 
“‘take no scalps and murder no eaptives.’’ This pledge 
they sacredly kept. 

The call to arms brought all the war chiefs together. 
They mustered their troops in companies, each under its 
own captain and several companies were placed under the 
leadership of a colonel. Among these Indian military 
leaders not one outranks Colonel Farmer’s Brother. 
‘Though a man of eighty years. he gathered together his 
captains and warriors and led them on to battle. He was 
a true nobleman, morally clean, physically perfect and 


32 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


intellectually the peer of Red Jacket. Unlike Red Jacket, 
he was never addicted to the use of rum. Had it not been 
for his great modesty the name of Farmer’s Brother, today. 
would be known far more widely than even Red Jacket’s. 

Other leaders were Major Henry O’Bail, or Young Corn- 
planter, as he was called. It was he, who with 400 Senecas, 
took part in the defense of Buffalo. 

William Parker was the first Tonawanda to enroll, and 
he chose as his Captain, Little Billy and followed Farmer’s » 
Brother as his colonel. 

The roster kept by the Parker family records, besides. 
the names given, the following captams: Captain John 
Kennedy, a Cayuga, who is on the record as being exceed- 
ingly brave; and Captains Sundown. King, Peter Ken- 
jockety, Isaac, Jonas, Joeh, Snow, Jackson, Bone, Shongo, 
Cold, Heegan, and Tommey. Others are Colonel Lewis, 
Colonel Smith and Major Berry. 

In the battle at Fort George, Colonels Farmer’s Brother, 
Smith, Billy, Captains Halftown, Pollard, Red Jacket, 
Black Snake, Johnson, Silverheels and Captain Cold of the 
Onondagas, were in command of the Indians. This is from 
the official report of General John N. Boyd, who speaks well 
of the behavior of the Indian allies. 

Crossing over into Canada, the Iroquois troops fought at 
Chippewa and at Lundy’s Lane under General Seott. At 
the former battle, while fighting under Captain Pollard, 
William Parker was wounded in the shoulder. So 
splendidly did these Indians fight that General Boyd, who 
noticed their action in particular, said: ‘‘The bravery and 
humanity of the Indians were equally conspicuous.’’ 

And here, truth again appears stranger than fiction. So 
thoroughly aroused were the Iroquois, to such a fervent 
pitch was their patriotism wrought, that more than a score 
of their women donned uniforms, shouldered muskets and 
fought like the patriots they were. Most of them were 


‘SAOG AOYIV OY} JO punordAT]d v svar pod soot Ayvys yuy ous, “IYBit oy 07 pooys q]TUU s,coyeg WUT TTA 


MYOA MUN ALNOOO GHUSINHD ‘VONVMVNOL WH JO STTVa 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IkOQUOIS 33 


Oneidas and went to war with their husbands. The Oneidas 
had long been a tribe faithful to the American cause. 

In the old army register kept by William Parker, and 
later his son Nicholson, we find a list of these patriotic 
women. Lest we forget, let us doff our hats at the names 
of Annie Metoxen, Usena Reed, Polly Antonine, Margaret 
Adams, Susan Hendrick, Dolly and Mary Schenandoah, 
Salmo Adzquette, Margaret Stevens, Polly Cooper, Mary 
- Williams, Margaret John, Mary Antonine and Susan 
Jacobs. They wore sometime the rough garments of men, 
they fought like men, they bled and died like heroes. What 
more patriotic heroes indeed does our history record than 
these ! 

Some of the warriors were mere boys just in their 
“‘teens,’’ among them Saul Logan the Squawkie Hill 
Indian, the sentry at Black Rock. He was fourteen years 
old. Even William Parker was only seventeen. Others 
were white-haired old men. There we have it. The whole 
people fought—men, women and youths! 

There are many stories of gallant service, of courage, 
of daring. Ga-uch-so-wa of the Beaver clan clung close 
to the front at the redoubt at Black Rock. It was he who 
bayonetted the first red-coat to appear. White Seneca was 
hailed by his people as the ‘‘bravest of the brave.’’ There 
were men like Sho-a-go-wa, of the Turtle clan. It was he 
who volunteered to run in front of the enemy’s line, in 
order to get them to discharge their guns. Then imme- 
diately our troops poured upon them. Yet brave Sho-a- 
£0-wa was not even scratched. Like his patron totem, ‘‘he 
lived long and died hard.’’ Other men were eager and 
fearless, like Do-sa-ga-ni-yak, of the Bear clan. In his 
eagerness to get at the enemy he crossed the Niagara on a 
raft, and in the rapids just above the Falls. John Street 
(Ho-wa-yok-se) did not even have a raft. He tied his gun 
to his long hair, let it rest upon his back and then swam 


34 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


the river, making directly for the red-coats when he landed. 
Native strategy was shown by Captain Isaac who was shot 
in the neck and taken to the British camp. Regaining 
consciousness, he slowly opened his eyes, kept quiet and 
when he had located himself as in the enemy’s lines, he 
waited his chance and escaped to the American encamp- 
ment. Jo-ho-a-hoh was captured in the Bufialo fight, but 
mixed with the crowd calmly and when he was ready he 
simply ‘‘disappeared,’’ and entered his own ranks again. 
Some of the older men having greater faith in the arms of 
their ancestors used their ancient weapons, the tomahawk 
and bow. Peter Halfwhite (De-gai-i-da-goh, of the Deer), 
was one of these and carried his bow, arrows and quiver all 
through the war. William Parker carried a tomahawk, 
but kept it mainly as an ornament. 

Even the captives of the Iroquois fought with them, the 
Delawares, Squawkies, Cherokees, Shawnees and Chip- 
pewas. The record shows them to have been as daring as 
the Iroquois themselves. Thus it was that the Six Nations 
of Indians became the allies of the United States of 
America. Indian Aniericans, they were, and defending 
with the pale-faced Americans, ‘‘their land, their wives 
and their children,’’ they had a common cause. All through 
the war they fought, at Buffalo, Black Rock, Youngstown, 
Fort George, Lundy’s Lane, Chippewa and Fort Niagara. 
William Parker, with his brother Samuel who was eleven 
years older than he, took part in all these engagements. 
His commanders had been Young King, Red Jacket and 
Little Billy. Nearly all the Seneca captains operated under 
orders from the venerable Colonel Farmer’s Brother, who 
in turn was subject to the general orders of Generals Scott, 
Boyd and Porter. 

We cannot leave the discussion of the brave Indian, 
Farmer’s Brother, without relating an incident that 
occurred at Buffalo. It is a familiar tradition in the 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IkOQUOIS 35 


Parker family and is found recorded in the life of Red 
Jacket, by Stone. 

At Lundy’s Lane several of the American officers were 
severely wounded, among them General Scott, Major Gen- 
eral Brown and his aide-de-camp, Captain Worth. The 
genial nature of the latter made him popular with the 
Senecas, who delighted to do him small courtesies. Farmer’s 
Brother especially was constantly at the bedside of the 
captain. 

The British were anxious to discover just how conditions 
were in the American camp, and sent over a Chippewa 
Indian to mingle with the Senecas who were in the village 
of Buffalo, and get all the information he could. He 
claimed to have deserted the British, to have swum Chip- 
pewa river and crossed the Niagara in order to join the 
American army. This was a little more than the Indians 
could swallow, and it being an exceedingly hot summer’s 
day, they proceeded to imbibe a little freely of the army 
rum. Perhaps it was to wash down the improbable tale. 
As their spirit was awakened they commenced to boast of 
their exploits; how many red-coats they had killed and 
how they had defied and outwitted the enemy. The Chip- 
pewa spy then forgot his character and began to boast of 
the Yankees and Senecas he had killed, and scalped. 
Twenty Senecas sat around him and heard his confession. 
A dispute arose and the Chippewa was told just what the 
Senecas thought of him. 

Farmer’s Brother, who had been sitting at Capt. Worth’s 
bedside, heard the commotion and came out to ascertain 
the cause. He listened a moment and then stepping up to 
the spy gave him a blow upon the head with his war-cluby 
The Chippewa staggered and then fell, and lay stunned. 
Then, suddenly leaping up he burst through the circle and 
took mad flight. 


36 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


The Senecas then jeered at him, calling him a coward 
and a man afraid to die. The taunts struck home. Not 
even in this moment of crisis would he allow any man to 
call him a coward. Though he was a spy he was not that. 
He turned and walked back into the circle. Drawing his 
blanket over his head he stood facing his foes. Then con- 
scious of his crime he lay down on a log from one of the 
burned buildings near Main and Swan streets and covered 
his face. He knew that his punishment was but a question 
of a few moments. Farmer’s Brother lifted up his rifle, 
pressed it against the culprit’s head and shot him dead. 
This was the Indian way, and it left every man’s honor 
clean. 

It has been stated that there were 1,200 Iroquois allies 
of the Americans in the war. The Parker record book gives 
the names of only 600, and records their tribe, clan, and 
Indian name, as well as giving the place of enlistment and 
discharge. It is certain in any event that the Senecas 
supplied two-thirds of the total number engaged. In the 
old battles of the League they had done the same. 

The names of the gallant Iroquois allies of the United 
States do not appear on the regular muster rolls of the army 
or even upon its pay-rolls. These facts made it difficult in 
after years for them to obtain pensions and land bounty 
warrants. 

With the success of the American cause, the home coun- 
try was preserved. The mouth of the Tonawanda creek 
opened out safely to an American Niagara. The mysterious 
island was saved, but only later to be relinquished. The 
passing of years make newer generations forget. And so 
from the minds of the Senecas, with the passing of the old 
sages, passed the knowledge of the graves of the forgotten 
Neuter villagers. 

Though the entire Niagara was ceded to private land 
owners by the Senecas, one long forgotten fact remains: 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IkOQUOIS 37 


The Seneca Nation never gave up their title to the bed of 
the Niagara River! Today they own it and a strip along 
the shore. It is theirs, and some day the State of New York 
must reckon for its payment. The State may wriggle and 
squirm, it may balk, and prune down, as it did in the tardy 
justice it has given the Cayugas, but even as the 118-year 
fight was won by the Cayugas and the 60-year fight of the 
Six Nations for payment for their Kansas lands, so some 
day must the land and the river defended by the Senecas in 
1812-15 be paid for by the sovereign State. 

The War of 1812 estranged the two branches of the 
Troquois. For many years there was a bitter feeling 
between them. The Canadian branch, uniting all their 
tribes in a general council, continued to govern themselves 
in the ancient way and under the laws of De-ga-na-wi-da, 
and Hiawatha. They claimed to be the true confederacy 
and to have shown the right spirit in clinging to their 
British allies. The Iroquois that remained, they pointed 
out, were broken, scattered bands without coherence or 
spirit. On the other hand the New York Iroquois claimed 
that the Canadian branch had seceded, thereby violating 
the constitution of the Confederacy and automatically 
eutting themselves off from its forms and rights. They 
accused them of abandoning their ancestral domain, of 
allowing their ‘‘heads to roll away.’’ There had been no 
actual break until the War of 1812, but when arrayed 
against one another they fought on opposite sides, then 
bitterness was gall, indeed! Cordial relations were not 
soon again established, although there were journeys to 
and fro soon after the close of the war. 

The lingering prejudice manifested itself at the last 
council on the Genesee in 1879, when William Pryor Letch- 
worth dedicated the old Caneadea council house. Represen- 
tatives of all the Six Nations were there, among them 
Colonel Simcoe Kerr, a Mohawk of the Canadian army, and 


38 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


his sister, Kate Osborn. The Colonel refused an introduc- 
tion to the Seneca chiefs, Parker, O’Bail and Jacket, but 
later at his sister’s entreaties, grasped their hands and 
pledged his friendship. Thus was that council a memor- 
able one. 

For the sake of historical accuracy it will be interesting 
to record a description of the uniforms and clothing worn 
by the Iroquois allies. Many of them took the regular 
uniforms of the army, but others clung to the Indian attire 
of the day. Some wore buckskin leggins and fringed 
leather hunting-shirt. Others used broadcloth leggings 
neatly beaded in designs of various patterns. The shirt 
was always worn outside like a coat, and was never ‘‘tucked. 
in.’’ Sashes of native weaves were worn by the chiefs or 
captains. These were strung across the shoulder and over 
the chest diagonally to the left hip, where the long-fringed 
ends were tied. Most of them were woven of red worsted 
but a few were of buckskin with moose hair, or quilled in 
porcupine. The Seneca moccasin was made of one piece 
of leather with a seam in the heel and over the top of the 
foot. 

The Iroquois did not wear the plumed feather bonnet. 
of the Sioux, but wore round caps that covered the head. 
From the middle of the crown was suspended a cluster of 
downy feathers five or six inches long and from a spindle 
in the center arose an eagle plume that whirled as the 
wearer moved. A decorated band or a silver crown 
encircled the cap which was of leather, fur or cloth. Some- 
times the entire breast was bare and only leggins, breech 
clout and moccasins worn. Some of the older men, con- 
forming to the ancient custom, shaved their heads by burn- 
ing off all the hair except the scalp lock at the crown. 
Many too had slit the rims of their ears and wound silver 
foil around them. In the small socket in the top was placed 
a fluffy plume or a woodpecker’s feather. Between the 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 39 


Indian costume and the military uniforms were all grada- 
tions, but in most cases every Indian carried or wore a 
“‘match-coat’’ or blanket. Sometimes these blankets were 
only cotton sheets. The leaders often wore military coats 
and carried sabers but one can readily imagine that their 
feet were mocecasin-shod. It is a belief that the moccasin 
on the feet of the dead helps find the way to the Indian 
heaven. 

_. In this manner appeared the Iroquois army, the last time 
it was ever called as a unit to the front. We need not 
smile at their garments or deplore the fact that they new 
nothing of the ‘‘Macedonian phalanx’’ or of forming hol- 
low squares. This knowledge does not make a soldier. A 
half-starved sick and vagabond army in tattered raiment 
eventually won the independence of this nation. Like them 
the Iroquois were loyal and good shots. Those qualities 
have helped maintain the gloried independence of this 
nation. 

Nearly all of the Senecas who fought in the war took 
the oath of allegiance to the United States. This circum- 
stance, coupled with the fact that they felt that they 
were actually resisting an invasion of their own territory, 
did much to estrange the Senecas from the English and to 
render void the overtures of the British agents that had 
been made continually since the close of the Revolution. 
More than anything else, the War of 1812 cemented the 
Troquois to the United States and left them a loyal people, 
confident in the integrity and justice of the nation. Their 
hopes were high and they believed that a new era of good 
fellowship had dawned. Alas, how falsely they were 
deceived! In fifteen years’ time this hope snapped like a 
bubble. 


40 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IkOQUOIS 


CHAPTER IV 
THE GRAND-DAUGHTER OF THE PROPHET 


And so William Parker the young warrior, came home. 
The war was over and the scars attested to his valor in the 
fight. He remained a short time with his aged mother 
and then began to clean up a farm that he could call his 
own. His experience during his three years’ service had 
taught him several valuable lessons. It had taught his 
people as many. They were the value of concerted action, 
industry, order and progress. Whatever may have been 
William’s early training he now resolved that the old days 
had passed and that neither he nor his nation could live on 
memories or succeed by lamenting the events that had 
gone by. So he shouldered his ax as bravely as he had his 
gun and whistled ‘‘Yankee tunes’’ as vigorously as when 
he felled the British on the banks of the Niagara. For a 
while he worked in his saw-mill, but later as his learning 
grew he developed one of the best Indian farms along the 
valley. It is not strange that the Senecas should have fine 
farms, for the Genesee Valley only in his father’s day had 
been one great garden, with thousands of acres of waving 
corn, twining beans, squashes, and melons. To charge these 
Indians with only being hunters is incorrect. There was 
this difference, however; under the old regime it was Wil- 
liam’s mother who tilled the fields; it was his father who 
cleared them. It was in those days considered fair that 
each sex should share the burden of providing food; the 
man, the meat; the woman, the bread. Nor was it any easier 
to carry a deer ten miles than it was to hoe ten rows of 
corn. But William had learned the new way. He both 
shot the deer and hoed the corn. His mother had more 
leisure. The example of industry that he taught inspired 


(‘odAjoorronsep B WOT) “toyed “ AloT Jo 1oy,O I (odkjoo110nSep B wIOLT) ‘“AoxIv ‘Gg Alo Jo soy RT 
YVAN UVd ALY ZT UAMAVd WVITIIM 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE I£0QUOIS 41 


many of the young men, who like him had fought in the 
war. Others affected to despise him and looked with 
jealousy upon his cleared fields with their winding rail 
fences. However, his counsel was sought even by the older 
men, and his good judgment compelled respect. 

It was not until five or six years after the War of 1812 
that William married. It was plainly seen by Sos-he-o-wa 
that William was the favorite of Elizabeth, his grand- 
daughter, and thus Elizabeth’s mother one day took a 
basket filled with wedding bread and placed the loaves at 
the door of William’s mother’s cabin.! They were accepted 
and the prospective mothers-in-law held a council. In those 
days the mother of the girl ‘‘proposed’’ to the mother of 
the boy. It was so much less embarrassing for the lad, 
when he liked the girl; but when he did not and his mother 
did, it is still not recorded that he ever objected. 

In this case William offered no objection and the 
wedding was arranged with all its solemn lectures by the 
old ‘‘experienced’’ women, and the joy songs of the war- 
riors. Then William went with his bride to his mother- 
in-law’s house, where he dwelt a year. Elizabeth’s grand- 
father was the noted Jemmy Johnson or Sos-he-o-wa, a 
sober chief who was preparing to become Handsome Lake’s 
successor as the expounder of the ‘‘new religion.’’ William 
seems to have been a successful son-in-law for after he had 
provided meat and corn for the old folk for twelve moons, 
he was pronounced worthy of Elizabeth’s hand. The 
watchful eyes of her parents could detect no flaw and he 
was allowed to take her to his own house at the Falls of the 
Tonawanda. 

William had one fault; he was too kind to his friends and 
too hospitable to strangers. His home became the stopping- 
place for every traveler over the road. For years he kept 
an open door and a table filled with food for the travelers 


1. William and Elizabeth were cousins, but since their respective mothers 
were of different clans, were eligible to marry. 


42 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


who passed ; and he never asked for a ‘‘thank you’’ or even 
a ‘‘nyah-weh”’ as the Indian would express it. He strictly 
obeyed the ancient laws of hospitality, to the great dis- 
comfort of Elizabeth, though she never complained. 
Arduous as were her labors in preparing the tasteful corn 
foods, she always had them ready and many a weary pale- 
face sat with delight at her table and ate the strange dishes 
she prepared after the native fashion. 

Elizabeth, as has been intimated, was a descendant on 
her mother’s side of a captive of the Neuter Nation. Ordi- 
narily this would have caused some social disability in spite 
of the attempts of the Iroquois to claim their captives just 
as much Iroquois as one of unbroken lineage. However, 
Elizabeth was in direct line from the famous Wolf clan 
family of the Neuters in which had rested the exalted title 
of Ye-go-wa-neh, a name that goes far back into the days 
of tradition. She had been well schooled in this family 
tradition and as a child she had sat by her mother’s side 
and listened to tales of the olden days. She knew how the 
earth rested on the back of a great turtle and how it was 
the duty of all Iroquois who called themselves Ongweh- 
oweh, or real men, ‘‘to spread their peace and extend their 
power throughout the entire earth.’’ She knew of the 
Neuter Nation, known to the Senecas as Kah-gwa-onoh and 
to the Wyandottes as Atiwandaronk. Many of these tradi- 
tions were told her and she passed them down to her 
children.. If she ever forgot a single one, Sos-he-o-wa, or 
James Johnson, her father, took good pains to inform her. 
Some of these tales were later put in writing by her boys, 
of whom we shall speak later. 

Gathered about the fireplace in the family loghouse, her 
mother would tell her the story of the Ongwe-oweh, the 
Troquois. We can imagine the effect of the tale as she 
related the tradition, so well known to the family. 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IkOQUOIS 43, 


‘‘The Ongwe-oweh, they are the men of men, lived on the 
highest portion of the Great Island. Their territory 
stretched over the shoulder ridge of the Turtle’s back and. 
great rivers ran down the slopes from all sides, on the 
Turtle’s scales lay long pools of pleasant waters.2 The. 
Ongwe-oweh could quickly travel by canoe to all parts of 
the Great Island. By canoe they could go to the source 
of a stream, port a short way over a ridge and then re- 
embark to fioat down and onward on the bosom of another 
stream, the Ka-nyen-geh.? 

“‘The country of the Ongwe-oweh was favored by the 
Sky Holder and he watched over the Ongwe-oweh, for they 
were the Men of Men. Mountains, great lakes, and impass- 
able marshes lay between the Ongwe-oweh and their 
enemies to the north, the Tree Eaters (Hadion-das)* 
The Crooked Tongues (Ha-dia-no-sa-tei-gwads),> and the 
Men of Fire.6 To the west and to the south deep dark 
forests intervened and it was not easy from without to 
reach the country of the Ongwe-oweh. 

‘*So were they favored, for they were the Men of Men. 

““To the north in the flinty country flowed the River of 
Many Rapids’ and beyond it to the east lived the fierce 
Tree-Eaters. The Ongwe-oweh had long sought to destroy 
this hostile people and wars had gone on for generations. 
Warriors bands of the Ongwe-oweh went at every season to- 
the country of the insolent Tree-Eaters and harassed them 
continually. So also did they war upon the Crooked- 
Tongues who should have been brothers but were traitors 
to the traditions of the Ongwe-oweh, for their blood was 
common. So again in another thing the Crooked-Tongues. 
were traitors and allied themselves in battle with the Tree- 
Eaters. 


2. The finger lakes. 3. This refers to the portage at Wood ereek. The river’ 
is the Mohawk. 4. The Adirondacks or Abenakis. 5. Probably the Hurons-, 
6. Probably the “gens de feu”? of the French writers. 7. The St. Lawrence. 


A4 LAST GEAND SACHEM OF THE Ik£OQUOIS 


‘‘From the favored country of the Ongwe-oweh the 
(Wanderers (Shawano)® had been driven and also a strange 
people who lived in little clusters and possessed great skill 
and patience.? So here in possession of the country on the 
shoulder ridge of the Turtle’s back lived the Ongwe-oweh, 
and though there were wasteful wars they increased their 
numbers and the westward settlements of the Flint Nation 
(Kanyen’ge)?!° seceded and became known as the Nation 
of the Stone.!!. So then this nation lay between the Nation 
of the Flint and the Nation of the Many Hills.12 West- 
ward about a pleasant lake lived the Nation, Drawn-up- 
from-the-Lake 1° and the sons of the Nation of the Great 
Hill (Nundawa’ga).14 Beyond the populous towns of 
the Nation of the Great Hill’® dwelt the Cultivators 
(Hadiyent’togeo’no),1®© brothers of the Crooked-Tongues 
and cousins of the Men of the Great Hill. In their villages 
by the Great Fall, Oniagara, was the Peace House where 
dwelt Yegowaneh, the Mother of Nations and her name was 
Ji-kon-sa-seh.!’ Beyond the Cultivators lived the Raccoon 
Nation 1§ also claiming to be Oweh and the allied brothers 
of the people of the Great Hill. South of these nations of 
the River Wide Flats?° and the River of the Big Bay 7° 
lived the tribes of the Sunken Pole?! and they were 
scattered hunters. To the east and south of this nation 
were the Wolves,22 a great nation and the Grandfathers 
of many small nations. Toward the southwest of the Great 
Hill in the mountain country lived the Nation of the 
Caves,2* and they were Crooked-Tongues (Tadi-wen-no-de), 
but stammered more. They had united with small bands 
of the Skillful Nation and built hills for their council 
thouses and fires issued from the hills. To the southeast 


8. The Shawnees. 9. Mound Building Indians. 10. The Mohawks. 11. The 
Oneidas. 12. The Onondagas. 13. The Cayugas. 14. The Senecas. 15. Bare Hill 
on Canandaigua lake. 16. The Neutral Nation. 17. Meaning fat face or wild eat. 
18. The Eries. 19. The Susquehanna, 20. The Chesapeake. 21. The Conestogas or 
‘Susquehannocks. 22. The Delawares. 23. The Cherokees. 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IkOQUOIS 45- 


surrounded by nations speaking a tongue much like the 
Wanderers, lived the Nation of the Sunken Tree.24 They 
were Ongwe but their heads had rolled away when the 
Ongwe-oweh were small and scattered. Their speech was 
much awry, for their throats were sick. 

“*So lay the nations about the Ongwe-oweh, they were 
the Men of Men, when our Founder” came. It was he 
who gave peace and strength to the Men of Men and they 
alone are the Men of Men. All others lost their blood as 
Men of Men when they failed to grasp with their arms the 
Council Tree. 

“‘The Mother of Nations, Yegowaneh, the Great Woman, 
lived in a Long-House in the territory of the Cultivators. 
Her house was at Oniagara. The Cultivators were Crooked- 
Tongues and cousins of the Ongwe-oweh. In the dim 
distant past when the Turtle’s back was small and the 
world was new all the Crooked-Tongues had been Oweh, 
even as the Ongwe-oweh and as the nations grew and 
divided it was found ‘that the first family and the Mother 
of the Nations fell to the Cultivators, the Atiwandaronk. 
So then thereafter the nations of them who were Oweh 
called the Great Woman, Yegowaneh, but through all gen- 
erations the Great Woman’s name was Ji-kon-sa-seh, the 
Lynx. Now in the territory of the Cultivators there was 
no war. Bands of warriors passed from east to west and 
from west to east through the paths of the Cultivators 
and delivered Peace Belts to Yegowaneh. So likewise, 
bands of warriors passed from south to north and from 
north to south through the territory of the Cultivators 
and delivered belts of peace because the Great Woman 
was the Mother of Nations. She would provide food for 
the War Captains and then exhort them to follow the 
paths of peace since all men are brothers who are Oweh. 


24. The Tuscaroras. 25. Dekanawideh. 


46 LAST GEAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


It was therefore said, ‘The path of war runs through the 
House of Peace.’ 

‘‘Thus were the Cultivators a peaceful people and no 
one made war upon them lest the Great Mother be killed 
and the line cut off, so it was said in the old time. 

‘‘But at length war was made and after several years 
of struggling the Nation of the Cultivators (they who had 
corn and tobacco), was broken and the people who remained 
were taken beyond the Genesee and scattered through the 
Seneca villages. So was captured the Ye-go-a-neh, of the 
Ongwe-oweh, and thus the Mother of Nations was made a 
Seneca.”’ 

In writing the story of those early days Cusick, the 
Tuscarora historian, tells much about this ‘‘Fire Queen,’’ 
as he called her, and the part she played in the contest 
between the Neutrals and the Five Nations. Likewise in 
the wampum codes of the Six Nations of the Iroquois, we 
are told that both Hiawatha, the Onondaga, and Deka- 
nowideh, the Wyandot, made their journeys to the tribes 
with the ‘‘Great Mother,’’ Ji-gon-sa-seh, the Ka-kwah, and 
consulted her in every important detail. Without the 
approval of this ‘‘mother of nations’’ and her sanction of 
Hiawatha’s plans the integrity of the principles of the 
confederacy of the Five Nations could have been assailed. 
But Ji-gon-sa-seh, who was regarded as a descendant of 
the first woman who came to earth, and as the direct 
descendant of the first Ye-go-wa-neh, the woman who was 
the mother of all the first ongwe was sacred to her people, 
for her word was law and her sanction was necessary in 
all political measures of inter-tribal importance. Elizabeth, 
the descendant of this honored line of ‘‘hoyaneh’’ women, 
held an honored place among the favored, and William 
was proud of his wife so gifted by ancestry. His clan, the 
Turtle, was glad to have him unite with her. 


LAST GEAND SACHEM OF THE IRkOQUOIS 47 


William and Elizabeth were blessed with five sons and 
one daughter. They named them Levi, Nicholson, Caro- 
line, Ely, Spencer, and Isaac Newton. Each seems to have 
been a healthy normal youngster. They were brought up 
on the old-fashioned baby-board in strict accord with the 
ways of their fathers and mothers of ancient days. 

Elizabeth was a woman of such remarkable beauty and 
charming manner that travelers who stopped at the Parker 
home wrote the fact in their note-books. Of course she 
had never been to a white man’s school and indeed had 
little knowledge of the English language. Nevertheless in 
the purely Indian way she was considered most accom- 
plished. She had a very sensitive nature but good control 
of her emotions. Many times she had strange, incompre- 
hensible impressions and there were times when she seemed 
able to foretell events. 

William Parker was a hunter by instinct and had several 
fine guns. When the autumn’s harvest had been gathered 
each year he would take his knapsack, shoulder his rifle 
and go off into the frosty October for a hunting trip. As 
Ely once wrote of his father, ‘‘he never lost his love of 
hunting until many years after this. He was fond of 
furnishing his table with juicy bear steaks and tender 
venison chops together with the plump quail and dry 
partridge.’’ 

Likewise he never quite lost his love of a satisfactory 
horse deal, and it is even said that he once traded off a colt 
that could hardly stand because of a defect in its legs for 
a fine mare. This he did much to the chagrin of a rival 
horse fancier, who lost out in the bargain. He seemed to 
enjoy the deal as a good one and laughed heartily after- 
wards, for he had once been cheated by this same horse 
trader. 

Traditions among the Tonawanda Indians tell us that 
before Ely was born his mother had a strange vision. 


48 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


Mrs. Harriet Maxwell Converse, who was adopted by the 
Senecas, found the tale and recorded it. Likewise, John 
Habberton, sent by the New York Herald to investigate 
the condition of the New York Indians in 1891, found it 
and placed it with the newspaper biographical material 
relating to General Parker. 

About four months before the birth of her son Ely, so 
the tradition runs, Elizabeth had a strange dream. It so 
impressed her that she consulted one of the ‘‘dream 
interpreters,’’ or as the Senecas call them, ‘‘djis-ga-da- 
ta-ha.’’ She related to him that she had dreamed that she 
was in Buffalo Reservation and near the Granger farm. It 
was winter, but strangely the sky opened from the middle, 
and, though it was snowing, a rainbow spread out, then 
it broke in the middle; from one side were suspended signs 
with letters, like those seen over white men’s stores.”’ 

The man who could see inside dreams then told Elizabeth 
the meaning of her dream. It was a prophecy, he said. 
Then he added: 

‘“A son will be born to you who will be distinguished 
among his nation as a peace-maker; he will become a white 
man as well as an Indian. He will be a wise white man, 
but will never desert his Indian people, nor ‘lay down 
his horns,’ (sachem’s title) as a great chief, his name 
will reach from the east to the west, the north to the 
south, as great among his Indian family and pale-faces. 
His sun will rise on Indian land and set on white man’s 
land. Yet the ancient land of his ancestors will fold him 
an death.’’26 

Elizabeth had already two children, Levi and Carrie; 
Nicholson was born later. With Carrie came the girl of 
the family, the future ‘‘name bearer’’ for the mother line 
of ancestry. The titles, clan and national rights of the 


26. See a full account of this tradition in the Buffalo Express, Jan. 24, 1897, 
entitled ‘‘A Prophecy Fulfilled.” 


SURVATION 


’ 
vi 


ON THE TONAWANDA REE 


\ 
4 


OLD FARMHOUSE 


1 
v 


THI 


It is now (1919) occupied by Laura Parker Doctor, the daughter 


of the late Levi Parker, brother of the General. 


Mitted up by General Parker for his parents.. 


Kellogg. 


Photo by Geo. W. 


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LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 49 


Iroquois, as every student knows, descend through mother 
to daughter. Thus with the girl child was the fulfillment 
of the clan requirement. But what of the future son who 
Was promised and of whom the strange prediction is said 
to have been made? 


50 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


CHAPTER V 


BOYHOOD DAYS ON THE RESERVATION 


The trading store, where William Parker obtained the 
white man’s staples used in his home and on his farm, was 
near the town of Buffalo, though Batavia was nearer and 
was a town larger than Buffalo.1 It was nearly thirty miles 
from his dwelling to the post, but what was thirty miles! 
His horses were good, indeed the best that any man had 
for miles around. When it came to a horse he was an 
expert. He often traded horses and was known as an 
expert judge. Thirty miles for his team was a holiday. 

Upon a certain occasion (it is not known even now what 
time of the year it was) it became necessary to journey 
to the trading post. It was thirteen years after the war 
and Buffalo had grown into an important center of trade. 
It had become a great center for the Indians, at least, and 
in its way, a wicked center. When William and Elizabeth 
with their ‘‘lumber’’-wagon and team drove in they 
stopped at the agency where they were well-known and 
welcome guests. It must have been a tedious ride for 
Elizabeth over the rough uneven roads and in a springless 
wagon. It was the custom for the women to sit in the 
back of the wagon-box and upon a pad of blankets placed 
on a pile of hay. 

It is not recorded how long a visit was made at the 
agency but during the stay Elizabeth urged a sudden 
journey home. When home was reached a little son was 
born. He was named Ely after a prominent white citizen 
of the day. It is certain that had the sudden journey not 
been made that the future sachem would have been born 
near Buffalo town and upon the Buffalo Creek reservation, 


1. In 1825 Buffalo had a population of 2,412, and Batavia, 3,352. 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF. THE IROQUOIS 51 


the loved Do-sho-wey, ‘‘the place of basswoods,’’ but the 
facts record his birth near Indian Falls, town of Pembroke, 
Genesee County, in the year 1828. 

When the young couple returned bringing a new baby 
brother to their three children there was great rejoicing at 
Tonawanda—and little Carrie had a new playmate. 

The Parker home was commodious enough for all the 
children that came, as well as for the many white travelers 
who stopped, ate and slept freely. Then too there were 
the prominent Indians, the chiefs and headmen, not includ- 
ing just regular neighbors who happened to drop in to see 
the newest baby. There was but one word spoken at a sound 
of a footfall at the door—it was ‘‘da-djoh,’’ enter. To 
support so large a table William had to be a mighty worker 
and so his acres grew until they extended on both sides of 
Tonawanda creek at the Indian Falls and crept eastward 
until they adjoined Elizabeth’s own estate. The saw-mill 
which he owned and occasionally worked was just east of 
his farm on the south bank of the creek. 

And thus it was that the Parker home became the meet- 
ing place of the chiefs and warriors. Samuel Parker was 
one of the fourteen chiefs of Tonawanda and so also was 
old Jemmy Johnson. Inasmuch as both were relatives it 
made William’s home most convenient for them. 

Red Jacket was a frequent visitor, since he was a mem- 
ber of the same clan as Elizabeth—the Wolf. Little Billy, 
Silver Heels, Blacksmith, Captain Pollard, Black Squirrel, 
Big Fire, Blue Sky, Black Chief, Black Snake, Sky Carrier, 
Tall Chief, Half Town, Twenty Canoes, Powder Horn, 
Two Guns, Big Kettle, Big Deer and Tall Peter, Sundown 
and many more all came and knew a welcome awaited them. 

It is interesting to note the characteristic of the Indians 
in their native expressions, their ideals and instincts are 
so different from those of the pale-face who came and 
urged his ‘‘yirtues’’ as superior. The uncultured Seneca 


52 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


believed that food like air was the gift of the Creator and 
should be as free to the visitor as the spring water at the 
wayside. His religion taught kindness and hospitality to 
the peaceful stranger and to the neighbor less fortunate; 
it required that every adult or child who entered the door 
should have food placed before him. Every convenience 
of the home was at the disposal of those who entered the 
door. Then, the red man who claimed this hospitality had 
a knowledge of his own obligation not to claim more than 
the giver could easily give. Every man trusted the honor 
of the other and so no doors were locked. The simple 
expedient of placing a broom before the main entrance 
was the sign that the family was absent and the house not 
to be approached. There were no house-breakers. It may 
seem strange to modern man that with every temptation to 
get things easily and freely that some men did not fall. 
But they did not because it never occurred to them that 
one should possess the objects belonging to another any 
more than one man should steal another’s arm or head. 
This arose out of the old communistic life and had its 
basis in the fact that the Indian has developed no ‘‘acquisi- 
tive instinet.’’ The fifty sachems of the League were its 
poorest men, in worldly goods. They were hard workers 
and set an example of wisdom and industry to their people, 
but the religious law required that to be ho-ya-neh, or 
‘‘noble,’’ one must give all he possessed to those who had 
less ability. Thus the rich man, the noble man, was the 
poor man. He felt that it was right to give of himself 
and of his ability that his people might benefit. A man 
might hold his sacred ‘‘medicine’’ charm as a means of 
power but he never used his wealth of material substance 
as a lever to crush other men. The instinct was to give, 
not to get; to serve, not to be served. It was because of 
these inbred principles that William was willing and glad to 
use his strength and ability to produce for his friends and 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE [kOQUOIS 53 


visitors. They would do the same for him. His good wife 
felt the same; she was ‘‘ho-ya-neh,’’ and the proof of her 
nobility lay in her willingness to serve. 

Civilization has almost absolutely crushed out these finer 
native instincts. The white race has over-developed its 
desire to acquire until in modern America it amounts to 
madness and brings only misery. 

Ely was reared in this old atmosphere and early imbibed 
every fine principle of his people. His grandfather, 
Sos-he-o-wa, had become the successor of Handsome Lake, 
and therefore the chief priest of the Senecas. This fact 
had some disadvantage for it made the Parker family a 
member of the ‘‘progressive party,’’ the ‘‘new religionists’’ 
who were opposed to the ancient religion of the Iroquois. 
But by the time of Ely’s birth the new religion of 
Ganeodaiu or Handsome Lake, the brother of Cornplanter, 
had almost absorbed the older party. 

The Senecas were in a critical stage. Everything was 
uncertain. The steady inrush of white settlers brought a 
feeling of hopelessness. Nothing seemed true or certain 
any longer. The settlers were Christians but violated every 
rule the missionaries taught the Indians as Christianity. 
This led to confusion. Confusion came when it was seen 
that no great calamity came from changing from the old 
religion to the new. Confusion came when some of the 
Indians dropped their ‘‘paganism’’ for Christianity. 
Nothing seemed certain. The old law said ‘‘give;’’ the 
new law said ‘‘get.’’ The old law said ‘‘talk with one 
tongue and trust thy neighbor;’’ the new law was, ‘‘say 
one thing and artfully mean another, use two tongues and 
distrust your neighbor.’’ So, demoralization grew. Then 
eame the loss of native industries. The Senecas became 
dependent largely upon articles which they either did not 
or could not produce. Even their arts became demoralized 
to a certain extent. Their basketry and bead-work was 


54 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


commercialized. It was made to sell to the whites in the 
surrounding towns. Every move and every relation that 
the Senecas had with the whites seemed only to bring 
greater demoralization to the Indians in all lines, civic, 
social, moral and industrial. The simple ethics of the red 
man were overwhelmed—asphyxiated, in the new atmos- 
phere. 

The Senecas had long been farmers on an immense scale, 
as is attested by all the French and English explorers 
who came among them. Their extensive cornfields were 
described by every writer and military invader who visited 
them. Every one of the journals of Sullivan’s campaign 
records the large agricultural lands of the Iroquois. Sulli- 
van’s campaign, with all the misery it brought, carried with 
it also a destruction of the old agricultural pursuits. The 
Senecas wandering down the Allegheny or Cattaraugus, 
became for a time hunters and the garden patches were 
small, just large enough to support the family and no 
more. The land was not well cleared as it had been in the 
Genesee country and beyond. They had lost that now. 

True, Broadhead found some remarkable fields on the 
Allegheny settlements when he made his raid on the settle- 
ments there. In his report to General Washington he 
reported the destruction of $30,000 worth of corn and said 
that with the burning of the towns it took him three days. 
He added, ‘‘I never saw finer corn.”’ 

After these destructive raids the Senecas relied more on 
the chase for a livelihood. Broken-hearted, the men pene- 
trated the heavy forests and fought for existence in the 
wilds. The Allegheny country was the great hunting- 
ground and hundreds of hunting parties swarmed both 
sides of the valley from Bradford to Warren. Many went 
down as far as Pittsburg but there was no legitimate excuse 
for going so far unless it was because rum by the barrel 
was cheaper there. 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 55 


The Parker boys were reared in the old Indian way. At 
birth they were plunged in cold water and then wrapped 
or rolled in a blanket. Each was reared upon a baby board 
such as Indians use. Ely’s cradle-board for many years 
was shown in the New York State Museum but was burned 
in the Capitol fire, March 29, 1911. 

During their youth each boy was compelled to bathe 
often, summer or winter. During cold weather they were 
compelled to do this even if they had to break the ice to 
take a dip. In the summer they took what is known as 
the sweat bath. A small dome-shaped tepee was erected 
of bent saplings, covered with blankets. In a fire built 
outside, ‘‘hard head’’ rocks or fossiliferous stones were 
heated. These were raked inside with a hooked stick and 
dropped in a little pit. The bather than dipped water 
from a pail or bark receptacle and poured it on the stones. 
This caused cloud after cloud of steam to rise and the 
‘*‘bather’’ would sweat and steam until he thought himself 
perfectly clean. Companions would rub his skin with a 
brush or with sand and then all would suddenly burst 
from the sweat lodge and jump into a near-by stream. 
After swimming for a few moments they would emerge, 
roll up in a blanket and take a nap. The Parker boys 
often did this on the banks of the Tonawanda. 

Visitors in western New York, who saw such practices, 
thought the pile of stones were altars, and the sweat lodges, 
shrines for worship. One missionary left an interesting 
account of his idea of what in reality was only a group of 
Indian boys taking a bath.” 

There had been little change in the costumes of the 
people since the War of 1812. When Ely went to the little 
Baptist Mission School at Tonawanda, the Senecas were 
still wearing blankets. Most of the men wore long hair, 


2. See Publications of the Buffalo Historical Society, Hyde; Vol. VI, p. 243. 


56 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IkOQUOIS 


divided into two braids. A few of the warriors still shaved 
or burned the hair from their heads with the exception of 
the sealp-lock. The picturesque cap, covered with feathers, 
was still in vogue, though now the material was oftener 
red or blue broad-cloth or a fancy silk handkerchief, 
fastened over a wooden frame. The head-band was often 
of quill work in chaste colors or more often fretted in 
design from beaten silver. The more progressive wore tall 
beaver or ‘‘plug’’ hats over the tall crown of which they 
placed band after band of silver, the number indicating 
the wealth of the individual, in silver crowns, at least. 
Even the women wore these tall beaver hats, crewns and 
all. Fancy the appearance of Elizabeth Parker, direct 
descendant of Ji-gon-sa-seh, compeer of Hiawatha, dressed 
in a ‘‘stove-pipe’’ hat! And yet it is said she had one. 

The Indians early held that a thing was valuable only 
as it could be used. Gold and silver meant nothing when 
in the form of money, in the earliest days of pristine ignor- 
ance. So they beat them into plates and fretted out 
brooches and buckles. The custom continued many years 
after they had been taught the white man’s use for his 
round pieces of white and yellow metal. The silver brooch 
fad had a firm hold on the Iroquois and they kept many 
native silversmiths busy in making them. The women used 
them as dress ornaments and as buttons. A wealthy woman 
often had a peck or more. 

It is interesting to note that the leggins worn by the 
men in times of peace were not fringed at the side at all. 
The seam was in front and a decorated band ran along 
the seam and around the bottom. Only the warriors wore 
fringed leggins, but more often they merely twisted their 
peace leggins around and tied a garter below the knee. A 
breech clout was worn, being either of buckskin or broad- 
cloth, but sometimes a doeskin or broadcloth kilt was worn 
instead. This was usually the case when men went bare- 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE [kOQUOIS 57 


chested. The skirt at this period was either of cloth or 
of light cotton, according to the season. In general form it 
followed the pattern of the earlier buckskin garments, but 
was without fringe. There was one material difference, 
however. The more modern shirts had sleeves. The broad 
sashes were still worn and decorated bags or pockets had 
not gone out of fashion. The men had a negligé habit of 
dressing for comfort and no one among their own people, 
at least, thought any convention violated by such a natural 
desire. Often they wore only the long shirt that reached 
nearly to the knees, a cap and a pair of moccasins. As 
often they wore only a pair of leggins and a kilt, leaving 
the chest bare. Still if a man appeared in a breech clout 
and a blanket and a cotton e-ywse (sheet), it was merely 
thought that he was keeping cool, if anything was thought 
at all. The day had not yet dawned for these simple-minded 
folk when it was to be learned that the human body is a 
thing disgraceful, shocking, immodest! They saw no wrong 
in the form that the Creator had molded as His supreme- 
expression. If they wore more clothing when they went to 
the trading posts or to the towns it was because they knew 
it was the style and not because they thought it immoral 
to reveal their bodies. 

When the cap, the gus-to-weh, was not worn by the men, 
the hair was neatly brushed and parted and a feather or 
two placed in the crown where the braids united. Married 
women wore a single braid, doubled up and tied. There 
was a fastening barette used, made of a piece of wood, 
covered with decorated buckskin. It resembled the object 
ealled by archeologists the gorget. It had two holes for 
fastening and was worn up and down, though when silk 
ribbons came into vogue it was worn across so as to 
resemble the extended ends of a bow. Unmarried women 
wore two braids and were careful to color the scalp where 
the parting of the hair revealed it. They considered it 


58 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


good etiquette to paint their cheeks red, providing every- 
one could see the paint. And here is a toilet secret not 
found in any book on Indians, notwithstanding the vigilant 
researches of ethnologists. It is about the face powder the 
Seneca women used. It was not white, you may be sure. 
It was red and made from the pulverized, dry-rot of the 
inner portion of the pine. It had a delicate fragrance and 
gave the skin a smooth velvety finish, absorbing all the 
natural oils and mosture. Milady was vain, even in those 
simple days, but it was only natural. 

No Iroquois woman, or any other Indian woman, ever 
wore a war bonnet or a feather in her hair. Sometimes 
she wore a simple headband or a tight cap, but an upright 
feather, never. She would as soon shave her head and 
deny her sex as ‘‘stick a feather in her cap.”’ It was 
purely a masculine prerogative. The feather in an Indian 
woman’s hair is a creation of the Wild West show. The 
real Seneca woman of old wore a head-throw of doeskin, a 
cap or more often only her shining black tresses, well oiled 
with sunflower oil or bear’s grease. 

When Ely Parker became of school age he was named 
Ha-san-no-an-da, meaning The Reader.* His youngest 
brother Nicholson was named Gai-e-wa-gowa or Great Mes- 
sage. Their sister Carrie was known as Ga-ho-na, meaning 
the Blue-bell. Then there was the older brother Levi, and 
Isaac Newton. From the very beginning these children man- 
ifested their own individuality. Each developed naturally 
in his and her own way. The only direction they had from 
their parents was, ‘‘Learn all you can.’’ Their father at 
least was a progressive in his desires for his children, but 
his own talents were used mostly in raising wheat and 
horses. He never had had the opportunity for attending 
school. Thus it was that Ely early acquired a primary 


3. Sometimes translated, ‘“‘The Name that leads.” 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE [20QU0IS 59 


schooling, and was grateful for the help the missionaries 
gave him. He was a keen observer, and the things of his 
time impressed him indelibly, young as he was. He saw 
the bark houses gradually giving way to substantial log 
cabins and the buckskin garment supplanted by cloth. 
This was the result of civilization’s mad on-rush. 

The bark cabins in his early days were at least well 
ventilated ; the log cabins were not always so, unless a big 
fireplace yawned up an equally large chimney. There 
were many bark houses along the Allegheny and a few at 
Cattaraugus. 

The old custom of burial had not entirely given way to 
the white man’s method. The body was wrapped in 
blankets and tied in a covering of bark. Some of the older 
people even requested to be doubled up in their graves, 
on one side as if sleeping, others wished to be placed in a 
tree for a year. There were tree ‘‘burials’’ at Cattaraugus 
and Allegheny at late as 1838. 

The social and religious side of the Senecas was interest- 
ing and varied, and of this we shall later speak. 

The region about the falls of the Tonawanda is full of 
the mysteries of the old days. There are strange ledges 
of rock, ghostly clumps of trees, places where ancient people 
seem once to have dwelt; and there was the mysterious 
spirits’ pond. 

All the Parker boys had visited that strange lake of 
spirits, whose waters seemed to glisten with enchantment. 
Indeed, it lay only a short way from their home at the 
falls, and at the foot of a high cliff, that rises almost fifty 
feet in places. Not only have Indians looked with awe 
upon this little sheet of water, but white men as well have 
felt the terrors suggested by its uncertain depths. No less 
a Christian than Rev. Samuel Kirkland looked at it and 
recalling the traditions, shrunk from touching it, and 
hurried on. This was a century and a quarter ago. The 


60 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


story he had heard was that the pond was inhabited by a 
great serpent, known to the Indians as Sais-tah-go-wa. It 
disgorged balls of fire and required a constant tribute of 
sacred tobacco. 

The Parker boys knew a better tale and their mother in 
warning them away from its dangerous shores told them 
the legend of Spirit Lake. She told the story of the maiden 
who was offered as a sacrifice to this under-water monster. 
Her lover, that he might be with her in death as in life, 
entered the canoe and pushed it from the shore, flinging 
aside the paddle and folding his arms when the great 
horned serpent lifted his head above the water. Some 
hostile Indians who had come to attack the Tonawanda’s 
village saw the situation and tried to kill the underwater 
dweller, but failed. Their arrows only broke against its 
seales.. So it bore the lover and the maiden far down 
beneath the waters; and even now, on certain evenings, 
their voices can be heard as they rise above the waters as 
spirit people. Even now the horned monster lifts his hea:l 
to survey the landscape and claim his sacrificial herb. In 
the boyhood days of Ely Parker, oftentimes the old men 
offered their tokens and the Society of Charm Holders held 
dark dances in the night, lest Sais-tah-go-wa become angry. 

This pond might become a source of a fine water supply 
to the town of Medina, but the villagers there, affected by 
the traditions of the red men, seem inclined to turn else- 
where for this element. 

There are many strange traditions hovering over this 
region and all of them have been faithfully handed down 
by the story-tellers of the family. Sos-he-o-wa was insistent 
that his children and grandchildren learn them all; and so 
Elizabeth told them to her boys. 

We should like to repeat some of these traditions but 
perhaps they ought to be told in a book of legends, rather 
than in a simple biography. One story, which was news 


‘oj0y ‘bboyayy “A *) 
‘SodOTU ST] JO OUO “LOJDOCT Very “sayy AQ pordnodo Mou ‘oSNoYULAL UOTPVALOSOY S,loyav “Uo Jo Arvaqiy oy) Uy 


ATINVY UOIMUVd WIL TO SAVG ATUVO OL LO SOIT 


Bs ln A 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 63 


im those days, however, should be related for it was gossiped 
about the Parker fireside m the years of the early *30’s, 
and its dramatic incidents happened but a little way from 
their own doorstep. It is of importance, too, to these who 
live there today, for it explams the ghosts that hover about 
the haunted corners. 

A little below the village of Akrom runs 2 picturesque 
stream known as Murder Creek. It was 2 stream fre- 
quented by the Indians, who appreciated its beamty. One 
of their trails led across it at the Sulphur spring. In later 
years a mill-dam was erected just above the spring, but 
the leeality with the Senecas always kept its ancient name, 
De-on-go-te, “the place of hearme”” It was so named 
because the roar of Ga-sko-sa-dah, the falls at Pals, 
eould be heard with great distinctness. The banks of the 
stream and the tall forsets seemed to wall im the thunder 
and hold it there to rumble om the ears of the traveler. 
Here another trail ram om to another stream two miles 
farther west. like its larger brother, this stream had z 
waterfall, and 2 hiddem waterway beneath its bed. It 
was called Watout-hah Gahonda, sometimes translated, 
“Stream with the beautiful falls.” 

In the spring of the early "20’s a white mam named John 
Dolph came from the Mohawk country and built his cabin 
@ stone’s throw from the Watout-hah. Here Dolph with 
Peter Van Deventer intended to build 2 saw-mill 

On 2 certain October evening, Mr. Dolph spread his mill 
plans om his kitchen table im order to discuss them with his 
good wife, who was rocking the baby boy im 2 cradle near 
the fire. Suddenly 2 pieremg shrick was heard m the 
woods outside. The agonizime ery was repesied acaim and 
sounded nearer. Pimgme opem the door Dolph saw the 
figure of am Indian girl rushing toward his cabim. Dashime 
m, she fell to the ficor moamine breathlessly, ““Oh, save me, 
save me!’” 


62 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IEOQUOIS 


Dolph closed and barred the door and had no sooner 
done so than the burly voice of a man was heard and then 
the clamor of his fists on the door. ‘‘Let me in! Let me 
in!’’ he eried as he threw his weight against it. 

‘‘You can’t come in by trying in any such way,’’ called 
out Dolph, at the same time motioning his wife to conceal 
the Indian girl. 

Mrs. Dolph lifted up a trap door and led the trembling 
girl into the mouth of a cavern. Dolph, with musket in 
hand, then advanced to the door and asked the intruder 
what business he had. 

‘‘My name is Sanders,’’ said the man, ‘‘and that girl is 
a prisoner, whom I am to deliver to the authorities at 
Grand river, Canada. Her father, a chief placed her in 
my hands, because she is wayward and wishes to marry a 
bad Indian. Now let me in, gentleman, please.’’ 

Mr. Dolph unbarred the door and the stranger entered, 
looked around but saw no sign of his prey. Glancing 
upward he saw an attic opening and a ladder leading to it. 
Dolph handed him a lighted candle and somewhat nervously 
Sanders went up but soon came down, angry and excited. 

‘*Give up that girl, she’s here, I saw her come in,” he 
sifarled. ‘‘Where is your cellar?’’ he asked, glancing down 
at the floor. 

Dolph removed a bit of carpet, handed the stranger a 
candle and bade him descend, but he found no trace of the 
girl and no visible outlet of escape, save to the room above. 
He flew into a rage and muttering threats as he came up 
the ladder, ‘‘she shall not escape me; I shall find her yet,’’ 
he exclaimed as he walked out into the darkness, to watch 
if he could any suspicious actions at the house. 

It was not long before he saw Mr. and Mrs. Dolph creep 
down the side of the gorge and enter a clump of bushes. 

Sanders had said that he was going to Canfield Tavern 
on the Buffalo road, and thus Dolph did not believe he was 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE I[kOQUOIS 63 


watched. He scanned the path, the woods and stream, but 
saw no one. A dark figure in the shadow of a great pine 
escaped his eye. So together the Dolphs went out and crept 
into the outside entrance of the cavern, which lay a few 
rods north of the falls, part way down on the right bank. 
Looking around again in the darkness they satisfied them- 
selves that they were unobserved. The October moon, 
though bright, could not pierce the depths beneath the 
autumn foliage. They entered the chamber, stooped low 
and crept on until they came to a high-arched cavern. 
There they saw the Indian girl, asleep from pure exhaus- 
tion. Ait the sound of a foot-fall she awakened and in 
wild-eyed alarm exclaimed, ‘‘Where is he?’’ Mrs. Dolph 
allayed the girl’s fears and drew from her the story of her 
unhappy adventure. Mr. Uriah Cummings, long the local 
historian of Akron, relates this. strange tale as he found it 
in Mr. Dolph’s own records. We draw upon his version 
for the girl’s story. 

**My name,’’ said the girl, ‘‘is Ah-weh-hah, which in the 
language of the pale-face is Wild-rose. My home is near 
Spirit Lake, under the cliff about a mile below the Tona- 
wanda Falls. I live there with my aged father, who is a 
chief of the Senecas and his name is Go-wah-na, meaning 
‘The Great Fire.’ 

*“My mother has been dead several years, and my poor 
old father has just been murdered by that dreadful man 
Sanborn, from whom I had escaped when you opened your 
door and allowed me to enter. 

“‘For more than a year this dreadful man has been 
hovering around Spirit Lake trying to get a chance to 
talk with me. He has urged me to marry him, but my 
Gray Wolf, my Tah-yoh-ne, is very dear to me and I was 
to become his wife very soon. But this man Sanders 
declared to me, that sooner than see me the wife of the 


64 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


Seneca brave, he would murder me and all who stood in his 
way. 

‘‘My father, thinking to avoid trouble, said he would 
take me to the Cattaraugus nation where I would be among 
friends and Tah-yoh-ne could join me there, and thus could 
we be free from the annoyance of Sanders’ threats and 
entreaties. 

‘‘T have had much to do to restrain Tah-yoh-ne from 
meeting this vile man Sanders. By much entreaty I have 
induced Tah-yoh-ne to do no harm to the wicked monster, 
for should they meet and should the pale-face fall, the 
authorities would not listen to anything we might say in 
defense of my brave Tah-yoh-ne. They would say he was 
guilty of murder and must be punished. 

‘‘Tt was this morning that my dear father came to me 
and told me to prepare for a journey to Cattaraugus. 

‘“Soon all was ready and we started on foot, taking the 
old trail, the Wah-ah-gwen-ne, leading on to 'Te-os-ah-wah, a 
place called ‘Buffalo’ by your people. 

‘““We had reached the De-on-go-te Gah-hun-da and had 
sat down to rest and listen to the wondrous Gah-sko- 
sah-dah, when suddenly we saw the man Sanders close 
upon the trail behind us. 

‘“My poor aged father trembled with fear and apprehen- 
sion, for he saw the look of wicked triumph in the hard 
face; and the offensive manner of the cruel intruder boded 
nothing but evil for us.’’ 

After a brief interval in which the young Indian girl 
had indulged in paroxysms of grief and anguish, Mrs. 
Dolph had taken her hand and endeavored to soothe and 
quiet her, she at last continued her painful story. 

‘‘Suddenly the entire manner of the man was changed. 
He seemed to have relented, and was sorry for his past 
conduct. 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE ILOQUUIS 65 


‘‘He smilingly came forward and extending one hand to 
my poor old father and his other hand to me, he said he 
wished us to banish from our minds entirely all thoughts 
of evil intent on his part; that he had made up his mind 
to cease trying to persuade me to marry him; that he 
hoped I would be happy with the brave Tah-yoh-ne; that 
he had decided to leave all behind him, and seek a home in 
the far West and there try to forget his great love for me; 
that he hoped all would be forgiven and forgotten; and 
that even now he was on his way to the great unknown 
West; he had not thought of seeing us again, but now that 
we were going in the same direction, he would do all he 
could to make us remember this journey with pleasure. 

‘<The man spoke so pleasantly that we were deceived as 
you shall soon learn. 

‘*\My father was so pleased at the turn of affairs that he 
invited Sanders to journey as far as On-tar-o-ga, today; 
he said that as soon as we reached that ‘place of hills and 
rocks’ we would build our campfire, prepare our evening 
meal and there rest until morning. To all this Sanders 
readily assented. 

‘‘And now as the details were settled, we lingered long 
at the De-on-go-te Ga-hun-da. 

““The moon came up bright and clear; the thunder of the 
Gah-sko-sah-dah came rolling down the valley and the 
time passed pleasantly, as Mr. Sanders can be very enter- 
taining whenever he chooses to be. 

““Finally we resumed our journey. We followed the 
Wah-ah-gwen-ne westward and came on up through ihe 
valley of the Wun-ne-pa-tue and on up the trail leading 
westerly out of the valley, and on to the hills of On-tar-o-ga. 
Presently we came to the accustomed camping-place and 
soon we had a fire started and our evening meal disposed 
of, and my dear father sat before the fire contented and 
happy. 


66 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


‘*‘T had arisen and was looking eastward when I thought 
I saw a light across the head of the valley and not far 
away. At that instant I heard a blow struck, followed by 
a groan, and quickly turning I saw my poor father lying 
prostrate on the ground, face downward, with that fiend 
Sanborn standing over him with an uplifted club in his 
hands. 

““With the look of a demon the brute sprang toward me 
intent upon murdering me also. With a shriek of despair 
and desperation I fled into the forest with the mad man 
close behind me, brandishing his club and vowing he would 
brain me. As I ran, it came to me about seeing the light 
through the trees, and as well as I could I fled in the direc- 
tion of the light. I ran until I came upon the bridge over 
the Wun-ne-pa-tue and there your light was in plain view, 
and I gathered up all my remaining strength and as I ran 
I cried, ‘Save me,’ when your door was suddenly opened 
for me with the fiend not ten steps behind me. You know 
the rest.’’ 

Ah-weh-hah was a beautiful maiden, so the Dolphs 
thought, so during her story, they resolved to keep and 
protect her. She was tall, and her perfect teeth, her soft- 
reddish brown complexion, her expressive black eyes and 
her long black hair betokened an Indian maiden of the 

‘finest type. Her refined manner and soft voice indicated 
that she had been carefully trained as a woman of the 
ho-ya-neh class. 

Mr. Cummings, who gives her conversation from the 
Dolph records, says it may seem incredible that this young 
Indian girl should have a command of English but he 
believes that Mr. Dolph’s records must be correct. The 
real answer is that Ah-weh-hah was a student in the mission 
school at Tonawanda, where the Seneca youth obtained the 
rudiments of an English education. 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE I[kOQUOIS 67 


The old chief, whose name no previous historian has 
given, was Big Fire, a veteran of the War of 1812. His 
body was found by Mr. Dolph in exactly the same spot as 
described by the girl. There too, he found the smouldering 

remains of the campfire. Ever since the day of his murder 
the cross-trail there has been known as the Haunted Cor- 
ners. The spot is at the east side of Cumming’s Park. 

Dolph after his horrible discovery took the trail for his 
partner’s tavern. When morning came Van Deventer and 
Dolph buried the remains of the victim of Sander’s 
treachery. The murderer had taken the Buffalo stage at 
midnight. 

When Dolph returned home he found the Indian girl 
delirious. The news of the tragedy and of Ah-weh-hah’s 
escape had reached the ears of the Indians and Tah-yoh-ne 
hastened to the refuge of his unhappy sweetheart. Ah- 
weh-hah was overjoyed at seeing Gray Wolf and begged 
that he go with her to the grave of her father. So together 
they journeyed over the trail until they stood by the newly- 
made mound. Here, together they chanted the death song, 
as a last token of their affection. A grave fire was lighted 
and the sacred tobacco incense rose to lift the burden of 
their prayer to the Maker-of-All. 

While thus absorbed in their funeral devotions, a sudden 
step was heard and Sanders jumped from the under- 
brush, ax in hand. Wolf grabbed his tomahawk and then 
began a terrible struggle. Losing their weapons in the 
fray each grabbed their hunting-knives and tore each 
other’s flesh until the blood ran down in gushing streams. 
Then came a pause and the white man fell backward, dead. 

Prostrate, and sickened by the awful sight, lay the 
girl. Wolf tried to speak but his lips were sealed. He 
was too weak to comfort his horrified sweetheart, and she 
too weak from the shock to rise to go to him. He staggered 
forward and fell. He too had perished at the graveside of 


68 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


her father. With an agonized cry that pierced the forests 
depths she gave vent to her horror and grief. Mr. Dolph 
heard the ery and ran the quarter mile to find what new 
tragedy had occurred. There he found the unhappy Wild 
Rose, on her knees, swaying back and forth as she moaned 
between her sobs the death chant. As she looked upward 
at Dolph her grief-stricken expression revealed such a 
depth of sorrow that he records that he felt her mind must 
soon give way. 

As she followed him back to his cabin his fears he found 
‘were realized. She was incoherent and dazed. Dolph, with 
the help of a neighbor, buried the two bodies, the Wolf near 
the Chief and the white man’s a little to one side. 

Often the Wild Rose would visit the graves of her father 
and lover to weep and to chant her grief. Mr. Dolph 
recorded her song as he heard it: 

“*Oh, my Gray Wolf, my Tah-yoh-ne, 
Do you hear the Wild Rose calling, 
Hear the song of your Ah-weh-hah, 
Hear her tell you how her heart aches? 
Why did not the brave Tah-yoh-ne 
Take his lonely Wild Rose with him. 
O, come back, my own Tah-yoh-ne, 
For my heart is breaking, breaking. 
You will wait for me, my Gray Wolf, 
For I soon shall come to join you. 
O, my Gray Wolf, my Tah-yoh-ne, 
Hear the voice of your Ah-weh-hah, 
Only wait a few days longer 

And I then will walk beside you.’’ 

When one day the Dolphs missed the Wild Rose they 
went out to the graveyard so tragically called into existence 
and there they found her, lying upon the grave of Gray 
Wolf, lying cold and lifeless. And so beside his grave they 
buried her. Many were the sincere tears they shed as their 
tender sympathies reached out in grief for the unhappy 
Ah-weh-hah. 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE I[kOQUOIS 69 


Now as in former days the lover of midnight strolls may 
hear the voices of the two lovers as they wander over the 
modern dust of the ancient trail. The ghosts of the father 
and the murderers never come back to earth—they who 
come are only the spirits of the lovers whom destiny for- 
bade a marriage in the earth life, but whom death united in 
a bond that the years have not broken. 

For many years the story of Big Fire’s murder was told 
at the Parker fireside and the tale of the unhappy Ah- 
weh-hah never failed to bring tears to the eyes of those 
who heard it. It had one moral to the Indians; it was: 
“Took out for white man.’’ But as ever, the warning was 
in vain, for as the traditions run, ‘‘White man very cun- 
ning, he get you pretty soon.’’ 

The tragedy of Ah-weh-hah was the tragedy of the 
people. The white man was on their trail. The ‘‘land 
sharks’’ had found them, and a life and death struggle 
for their homes was in progress. The child Ely passed 
quickly from the old stories, the ancient traditions of his 
people, to these new stories of wrong. As a child the need 
of a decisive action had often to be met, and it seemed to 
have found him ready. 

Because of the unhappy conditions among his people 
Ely, when ten years old, decided to run away. The whole 
nation was in the utmost confusion. By a system of high- 
handed fraud every foot of land the Senecas had was 
signed away and the order came, ‘‘March West.’’ The 
stoutest heart felt the clutching of emotions that could not 
be concealed. There were bickerings and quarrelings and 
the people were in a pitiful situation. Ely did not wish 
to stay in a country where confusion, deceit and trickery 
existed. He resolved to go to Canada where the followers 
of Brant lived, and to join the Six Nations band on the 
Grand river. His father consented and he went, accom- 
panied by an older man, a friend of his father. 


70 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


Every chief of the Tonawanda band of Senecas had 
refused to sign the treaty, had refused to accept the bribes 
of the Ogden Land Company’s agents and had spurned 
every overture. Only a single name of a Tonawanda chief 
appeared on the fraudulent treaty, that being forged. 

The story of this effort of the Ogden Land Company to 
obtain the lands of the New York Indians is a sad one, and 
the results did much to stimulate Ely Parker and other 
young men of his time to acquire an education and fight 
for their people. Among these were Maris B. Pierce and 
Peter Wilson, both of whom graduated later from Dart- 
mouth College. 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


CHAPTER VI. 


THE WAY THE TWIG WAS BENT. 


Grand river in ancient times was one of the great water 
routes of the Neuter nation. On its banks once lived 
branches of the Hurons and later the Mississaga Chip- 
pewas. It was a tract of land on either side of Grand river, 
from its mouth to its source that Captain Joseph Brant 
selected for his followers when he led them across the 
Niagara line and back under the British fiag. He selected 
a garden spot and his followers soon settled down to the 
work of re-establishing the League of the Five Nations— 
or six, as there were then. 

He concentrated the gathered tribes about the site of his 
town, now known as Brantford, Ontario. Here later was 
built his church to which Queen Anne gave a solid silver 
communion service and the hand-carved coat-of-arms of 
England. 

This gathering of the Mohawks with the Onondagas, the 
Oneidas, the Cayugas, the Tuscaroras, and a few hundred 
Senecas, together with the broken captive tribes, such as 
the Tutelos, the Brothertowns, the Delawares and Nanti- 
cokes, made possible a new ‘‘Long House’’ of the Iroquois. 
They still remembered their old laws and traditions and 
under Brant’s inspiration soon had a closely knit and 
centralized government patterned upon the laws of Hia- 
watha and Deganowideh. New sachems were ‘‘raised up’”’ 
and the council fire of the ‘‘great peace,’’ as the league was 
called, was kindled afresh. It was a new country and gave 
abundant promise for the fulfillment of the old hopes. 

In pitiful contrast stood the broken dissipated tribes in 
New York whose government had been wrested from the 


72 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


civil sachems and seized by the war chiefs. Their attempt 
to maintain the ancient League seemed only a pretense. 

It is little wonder that many of the New York Iroquois 
stepped away to Grand river and became members of the 
new council fire. It is little wonder that the tales of the 
“‘new hope’’ sunk deeply into the mind of the boy Ely 
and that he too wished to live as his fathers had lived 
before him. After an ardent plea to his parents, he was 
allowed to go. He was ten when he made the trip. An 
older friend went with him and promised to teach him 
all the mysteries of woodcraft and hunting. 

He learned many other mysteries than hunting. He 
learned the lore of his ancestors. He visited all the long 
houses, for each nation had one or more, and thus beeame 
thoroughly acquainted with the rites and ceremonies of 
each tribe. The beginning which his early training at 
Tonawanda had given him thus expanded and he early 
became an adept in interpreting one Iroquois dialect into 
another. Indeed he gave so much attention to his hunting 
and woodcraft and his learning of the old ways that he 
straightway forgot all he had learned at the mission school 
at home! 

During his stay at Grand river he had an opportunity 
to go to an Oneida settlement on the river Thames, where 
his uncle Samuel’s wife had relatives. There he had an 
opportunity of going out on trips with horse-buyers. Soon 
he had a job of driving horses to the Canadian military 
post at London. For nearly a year he worked as a hostler’s 
boy. Then came an order at the fort to deliver a number 
of horses to the military post at Hamilton. These were 
to be delivered under the charge of two or three English 
officers. Ely went along as one of the party. It was a 
long, wearisome journey despite the shifting scenes and 
adventures by the way, and thus the officers, no doubt 
duly impressed by their superior English ancestry, sought 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE I80QU0IS8S 73 


to amuse themselves at the expense of the Indian boy, who 
understood the king’s English’’ so imperfectly. They knew 
nothing of his ancestry nor dreamed him of far more royal 
blood than themselves. They indeed were petty officers in 
a provincial regiment and gloated in their superior rank. 
He was an Indian boy, indeed, but the heir to a sachem- 
ship in the League of the Iroquois. But he felt no vanity 
because of it. He once told the writer about one of his 
boyhood journeys to Hamilton, and told how the rude jests 
galled him. Later, too, he mentioned the subject in a brief 
autobiography which he left in manuscript form in his 
desk. 

He could not reply or ‘‘get back’’ at his tormentors, who 
as he says, jested from good nature and from pure desire 
for fun, rather than malice. These jests and sharp thrusts 
they gave him were of highest importance in determining 
his character and did much to arouse his ambition. In the 
long lonesome ride he did a great deal of thinking. He 
tells us that he resolved not only to continue his education 
but to become a master of the English tongue. More than 
this, he resolved to know that language so well that he 
could talk as brilliantly as any Englishman could. Who 
knows but that there was a latent resolution to become an 
army officer some day, in rank far above the jesting sub- 
alterns who drove horses? Thus with these new-born 
ambitions to achieve glory, that he might show white men 
what he could do he resolved to return to his home in the 
Tonawanda valley and begin his struggle for achievement. 

He walked all the way from Hamilton to Buffalo and 
thence to Tonawanda. He was a broad-shouldered strap- 
ping boy and thought nothing of the trip, except perhaps 
that he wished he could make greater speed. When he 
eagerly related his hopes to his father he found that while 
he met with warm encouragement he could expect no 
financial help from him. Nevertheless he told the good 


74 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


missionaries what he desired and found them in sympathy 
with him. He reviewed his old studies and pushed forward 
until he outgrew their ability to teach him more. He had 
then qualified himself to enter an advanced school. He 
entered the Yates academy of which he wrote appreciatively 
in later years: 

‘‘Here I progressed irregularly but well in all my 
studies, and having no Indian companionship, I advanced. 
perceptibly and rapidly in the use of the English language. 
The school was eminently respectable and the association 
was therefore good. It was non-sectarian and permitted 
freedom of religious thought and action. It was a mixed 
school and the association of the sexes had a refining, 
elevating tendency. I can recall my stay here as among 
the happiest days of my youthful existence.”’ 

At this time his brother Nicholson and his sister Carrie,. 
almost equally ambitious, were studying in Pembroke, 
Genesee county. 

There are many records of the progress of the Parkers: 
in their school careers, in the form of essays and other 
papers written during their school days, and through these 
documents it is easy to see that absence from home 
sharpened their devotion to their race and gave them a 
higher viewpoint than they ever could have had by remain- 
ing on the reservation. There is little doubt, too, that 
their ardent arguments in behalf of their fated race did 
much to mold the minds of their fellow students in their 
opinions of the Indian and his capacity. 

Cayuga Lake in ancient days was a favorite region for 
the wandering tribes that passed through the country of 
the Finger Lakes. The many sites of ancient camps and 
Indian villages attest this. Later the Cayuga Nation 
clustered about it and many silent tokens of these people 
are still found there to tell the story of other days. 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 71> 


The beauty of this region as seen by the Revolutionary 
soldiers under Major Sullivan attracted them and despite 
solemn treaties which assured the Cayugas that they might 
live there ‘‘forever,’’ the land was gradually purchased 
for small sums until the Cayugas had left only a 64,000- 
acre tract at the foot of the lake. 

The country was thus opened to settlement and the first 
town to be founded was Aurora on the east bank, midway. 
A beautiful spot, Aurora is associated with many interest- 
ing facts in our history of minor things. It was here on 
November 21, 1818, that Lewis Henry Morgan, historian 
of the Iroquois, was born. The most famous academy in 
Western New York was situated at Aurora and it was at 
this Cayuga Academy that Morgan received his early 
training. 

‘After a two years’ course at Yates, Ely Parker entered 
Cayuga Academy, already famous for the number of its 
successful students. He was then about seventeen years 
of age and more than usually ambitious. He came as a 
“*son of the forest,’’ as he says, to compete with white boys 
from the finest families in the land. 

In passing it may be said that nearly every Indian who 
has achieved a high position in business or commercial life 
has been educated away from his people and amid sur- 
roundings that compelled him to keep on his mettle. It is 
competition with keen intellect that awakens and develops 
greater intellect, generally speaking. The Government 
school where hundreds of untrained Indian youths are 
brought together can never accomplish the good that might 
be accomplished if the same students had the opportunities 
and could meet the requirements of the common schools of 
the land. It is the culture that one gets by good associa- 
tions and the standard one must rise to in order to be 
regarded as ‘‘par,’’ that keep ambition alive and keenly 
active. 


76 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


Certain it is that the opportunities that the Parker boys 
had at the schools among the whites were not lost. They. 
felt that it was incumbent upon them to live up to all the 
higher ideals men had of the red race and to disprove all 
the current tales that the Indian was lazy, drunken and 
inferior in intellect. Their life at the academy gave them 
two great opportunities. The first was that of reading the 
then recently published works of Thatcher and Drake, 
Here they found recorded the proof of the fine qualities 
possessed by the old leaders of the race before the time 
when contact had caused too great corruption. They read 
with the joy of discoverers of Tecumseh and Pontiac, or 
Philip of Pokanet and of Garangula. This not only awak- 
ened a healthful race pride but spurred on ambition. The 
second opportunity that came was that of delivering in 
oration and essay, heroic defenses of the Indian, Once they 
had declaimed the virtues of the red man’s way they were 
compelled to live up to those virtues, and they did this to 
the last detail. 

This endeavor to emulate the virtues of the old regime 
led to many interesting arguments, and both Nicholson and 
Ely felt compelled to deliver orations explaining why they 
were seeking a white man’s education if the Indian way 
“~waS sO superior. 

Nicholson was ever Ely’s favorite brother; at least they 
had more elements of common interest and were oftenest 
together. While they were at school—Ely at Cayuga and 
Nick at Pembroke—they devised a way of utilizing their 
literary productions to mutual advantage. Each would 
-send the other his essay or oration, as it had come from the 
teacher’s hands for correction, and then the other re- 
viewed, rearranged it to suit himself and used it as his own. 
‘This mutual interchange did much to keep. their thoughts 
in the same general channel and led each to read the books 
the other read. It is quite possible that this fact would 


Se 


76 LAST GEAND SACHEM OF THE IkOQUOIS 


Certain it is that the opportunities that the Parker boys 
had at the schools among the whites were not lost. They 
felt that it was incumbent upon them to live up to all the 
higher ideals men had of the red race and to disprove all 
the current tales that the Indian was lazy, drunken and 
inferior in intellect. Their life at the academy gave them 
two great opportunities. The first was that of reading the 
then recently published works of Thatcher and Drake. 
Here they found recorded the proof of the fine qualities 
possessed by the old leaders of the race before the time 
when contact had caused too great corruption. They read 
with the joy of discoverers of Tecumseh and Pontiac, or 
Philip of Pokanet and of Garangula. This not only awak- 
ened a healthful race pride but spurred on ambition, The 
second opportunity that came was that of delivering in 
oration and essay, heroic defenses of the Indian, Once they 
had declaimed the virtues of the red man’s way they were 
compelled to live up to those virtues, and they did this to 
the last detail. 

This endeavor to emulate the virtues of the old regime 
led to many interesting arguments, and both Nicholson and 
Ely felt compelled to deliver orations explaining why they 
~were seeking a white man’s education if the Indian way 
“was SO superior. 

Nicholson was ever Ely’s favorite brother; at least they 
had more elements of common interest and were oftenest 
together. While they were at school—Ely at Cayuga and 
Nick at Pembroke—they devised a way of utilizing their 
literary productions to mutual advantage. Each would 
‘send the other his essay or oration, as it had come from the 
teacher’s hands for correction, and then the other re- 
viewed, rearranged it to suit himself and used it as his own. 
This mutual interchange did much to keep. their thoughts 
in the same general channel and led each to read the books 
the other read. It is quite possible that this fact would 


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LAST GEAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 77 


never have been known if their school essays had been lost 
or burned. However, on looking over the papers one can 
see the date on the essays; on one, “‘E. S. P., Nov., 1847,’ 
and on another, ‘‘N. H. P., Dec., 1847.’’ Then on another 
set, ““N. H. P., Jan., 1848;’’ ‘“‘E. S. P., Feb., 1848.’ This 
was at least brotherly reciprocity even if it had some sus- 
picion of a lack of ethics. It was a secret between the 
brothers that a biographer has unearthed for the critic 
which may not be quite fair. But sinless heroes would be 
mummies, things that neither Nick nor Ely would exactly 
eare to be. They were boys and very much alive. If they 
did ‘‘crib’’ from each other it did not destroy their indi- 
viduality or dull their ability to originate. On the con- 
trary it did help mightily in winning prizes in oratory. 
One of these orations had as its title, ‘‘Original Thoughts 
Impossible to Man.’’ 

The confusion in tribal affairs caused great distress 
The Senecas between 1838 and 1850 were in a constant 
state of agitation and it was necessary for them constantly 
to send messengers and attorneys both to Albany and to 
Washington. 

Ely Parker was often sent on such errands. His first 
trip to Washington was made when he was fifteen years of 
age. His polished manner and keen wit quickly won him 
many friends and he at once became a favorite in the elite 
circles of both state and national capitols. The affairs of 
the Tonawandas demanded the attention of some earnest 
advocate and it was this demand that led to Ely’s leaving 
school at the age of eighteen. 

Durings his schooldays Ely had already met many of 
the distinguished men of New York, and he had dined at 
the White House as a guest of President Polk. Later on 
he met with Webster, Clay and Calhoun, and was a favorite 
with them, though his costume was of buckskin and his 
hat of doeskin and feathers. 


78 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


He was a great admirer of Mrs. Polk, and related with 
evident pride how Mrs. Polk had stopped her carriage in 
the streets of Washington when she saw him crossing and 
invited him to a seat by her side. The Indian boy thus 
associated with the best men of his day, always convinced 
that it was the right due to an heir of a sachemship of the 
Senecas. 


t LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE I£0QUOIS 79 


CHAPTER VII 


LEWIS H. MORGAN AND THE “NEW LEAGUE OF 
THE IROQUOIS.” 


The situation of his people had naturally turned the 
mind of Ely Parker to the study of law, and with the 
gradual settlement of difficulties he began his career as a 
student in the law office of Angel & Rice in Ellicottville, 
‘Cattaraugus county. Here again he was thrown into com- 
petition with other clerks and the fact that he was an 
Iroquois gave him greater ambition. He spent three years 
reading law, drawing up forms, preparing arguments and 
listening to court proceedings. Then came a discovery 
that would have crushed many a lad. 

Competent though he was and able to meet every require- 
ment, he could not be admitted to the bar. A Supreme 
Court decision had ruled otherwise, making it possible only 
for a male white man and a citizen to enter. He had one 
great disability, and neither learning nor capacity could 
avail against it. He was an Indian, a native of the soil. 
Therefore he could not be admitted to the bar for he was 
not a citizen of the country. There was no way by which 
the could become one. He was a man without a country, a 
victim of legal injustice and popular prejudice. No Seneca 
could curse in his own tongue. He had to talk ‘‘white 
man’’ to do that, and it is said Ely for once talked ‘‘ white 
man’’ curses, though ever after he abjured the use of such 
language. 

Disappointed in his ambition he drifted into Rochester 
to consult his friends. He had made up his mind to become 
a civil engineer. He took a short elementary course in the 
‘Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy and then joined 
one of the parties sent out to improve the Erie Canal. 


80 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


During Ely’s endeavors to acquire a profession he had 
become acquainted with Lewis H. Morgan, who some years 
before had attended Cayuga Academy and later graduated 
from: Union College. The two men developed a strong 
liking for each other and this friendship was accentuated 
by events to be related later. Perhaps it was Morgan who 
helped Parker to gain admission to Cayuga. 

When Morgan attended Cayuga Academy he was instru- 
mental in organizing a school fraternity known as the Gor- 
dian Knot. The Masonic Order had received a severe set- 
back through the so-called exposé of another “‘ Morgan’’ who 
lived but a few miles away on Canandaigua lake. Popular 
fury, ignorant of the beautiful teachings of Masonry, led 
to such persecutions, that the Masons, rather than foment 
civic discord, abandoned their lodges and even returned 
their charters in some cases. The school club found the 
Masonic hall, therefore, an ideal meeting-place, and arrayed 
in the white lamb-skins of the fellow-crafts, or in the silken 
robes of Solomon or Hiram, King of Tyre, the academy 
boys held their secret sessions and initiated candidates into 
the mysteries of the Gordian Knot. The club filled the 
members with a youthful enthusiasm to do something 
useful as well as amusing and each member as he returned 
home was commissioned to establish a branch society. 
Lewis Morgan appears to have been the leading spirit and 
the society lived and prospered. 

Morgan’s study of the Iroquois began with his acquaint- 
ance with Ely Parker. As Charles Talbot Porter, a friend 
to both men, wrote in later years, ‘‘Parker was an invalu- 
able find for Morgan.’’ Parker’s influence was soon felt, 
for soon after his initiation into the Gordian Knot the 
society completely changed its name and character. It was 
reorganization on the principles of the League of the 
Troquois and indeed became known as the Councils of the 
New Confederacy of the Iroquois. To its members it was 


LEWIS H. MORGAN 
The lifelong friend of Ely S. Parker. 


It was Lewis Henry Morgan who first opened the gateways to a scien- 
tifie study of the Indian and who from this study pointed out the laws of 
social evolution by which mankind has risen step by step from primitive 
ignorance to civilization. 


efi 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IhOQUOIS 81 


known by the mysterious name of We-yo-ha-yo-de-za-de 
Na Ho-de-no-sau-nee, a Seneca phrase meaning, ‘‘They 
who live in the home of the dwellers of the Long House.’’ 
The society became popular and branches were established 
as far east as Utica. Conventions were held at the place of 
the parent chapter in Aurora, and in the old Masonic lodge 
room. The members developed a wholesome interest, not 
only in the social features of the organization but in the 
study of Indian customs. Thus such men as Henry R. 
Schooleraft and Alfred B. Street were initiated and read 
papers and poems on Iroquois life. 

Morgan’s interest was doubly sincere and later the 
society served most useful purposes. It used the forces it 
could influence to defeat the aims of the Ogden Land Com- 
pany and poured forth to the State Legislature such a mass 
of evidence of the dishonest characters of the Land Com- 
pany’s agents that the legislators were astounded. Muster- 
ing their forces, the members of the Grand Order of the 
Iroquois sent in petitions and did much to defeat the 
crooked schemes of the land sharks. Both Morgan and 
Parker went to Washington to bring about a defeat of the 
fraudulent treaty. Morgan thus became widely hailed as 
a champion of the Iroquois. The society did much to place 
Ely’s brother Nick and his sister Carrie in the State Normal 
school in Albany and finally led Morgan with Parker to 
write ‘‘The League of the Iroquois,’’ a book that has 
become a classic wherever Indian books are known. This 
work was the first detailed description of an Indian tribe 
ever written and has made the name of Lewis H. Morgan 
imperishable. 

Morgan’s interest in the Senecas was of a variety that 
won the respect of these people and he was honored with 
an invitation to come and be one of them. He responded 
and was adopted as the brother of Jimmy Johnson and 
made a member of the Hawk clan. It has sometimes been 


82 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE I[kOQUOIS 


said that he was made a son of Johnson, but that is not so. 
He would have been a son of Johnson’s wife which would 
have made him a Wolf. The adoption took place on 
October 31, 1847, and he was named Ta-ya-da-o-wuh-kuh, 
meaning ‘‘One lying across,’’ or ‘‘Bridging the Gap,’”’ 
referring to him as a bridge over the differences that lay 
between the Indian and the white man. With Morgan at 
this time were Thomas Darling and Charles T. Porter, 
both of whom were given family adoptions. Mr. Porter 
has written a fine account of the occasion in the Lloyd 
edition of the ‘‘League.’’ 

One of the unique testimonials given Morgan was a wam- 
pum belt of white background, showing the outline of 
eight purple diamonds. This was the pledge of the entire 
nation through its eight clans to Morgan. This belt, made 
especially for him by the matrons of the Senecas, is now in 
the State Museum of New York where so many other rare 
relies of Morgan’s gathering are to be found—though he 
kept many in Rochester, apparently also having a private 
collection. 1 

Mr. Morgan interested many of his personal friends in 
the Senecas and their needs. Among these was Charles 
Talbot Porter, whom we have already mentioned. He 
became deeply interested in Indian affairs, and although 
his view of the red man was not as optimistic or as sympa- 
thetic as Morgan’s, he was nevertheless a staunch friend. 
In Mr. Porter’s recollections of Morgan, published in Mr. 
Lloyd’s edition of the ‘‘League,’’? he gives an interesting 
account of his visit to the Tonawanda reservation. 

‘‘Not long after the rejection of the treaty, probably in 
1847,’’ says Mr. Porter, ‘‘Mr. Morgan was invited to visit 
the Indians on the Tonawanda for the purpose of being 


1. Many years later this collection, which was made for Morgan’s son, was 
given or sold to the University of Rochester. Morgan was married in 1851. 

2. Lloyd, Herbert M., new edition of ‘‘The League of the Iroquois” (by 
Morgan), Dodd, Mead & Co., N. Y., 1901, vol. II, p. 157. 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE Ik0QUOIS 83 


adopted. I had the honor, together with Mr. Thomas 
Darling of Auburn, New York, to accompany him. No date 
was fixed. The Indians were always at home. We went in 
a pleasant season, and when we knew we should find Ely 
Parker there.’’ 

There seems to have been no reception committee pro- 
vided for Mr. Morgan and his party, and after a four-mile 
walk, Mr. Porter describes the attempt to cross the Tona- 
wanda creek. Mr. Porter waded, for the water was only 
eighteen inches deep at the ford. Mr. Darling and Mr: 
Morgan wished to pass over dry-shod, so they hunted up 
a dug-out canoe and arranged their passage by craft. 
Porter stood on the farther shore, impatient, no doubt, at 
the ceremonious delay. Darling entered the canoe, wrapped 
himself tightly in his shawl and then Morgan, famed 
student of Indian lore, grasped the paddle, shoved off the 
canoe and leaped into it. But alas, he no sooner leaped in 
than he leaped out, for his ‘‘shoving out’’ was also a 
shoving over. This was a sad plight for Mr. Darling, for 
he was wound in his shaw] like an Egyptian mummy. He 
rolled into the water and soaked out of his wrappings. 
Thus baptized in the waters of the ‘‘swift water stream.”’ 
the candidates for adoption entered the domain of the 
Senecas “‘wet shod,’’ all save Porter who had watched the 
whole proceeding with merriment. 

Mr. Porter writes: 

Our visit lasted ten days. The forenoons were devoted by Mr. 
Morgan to filling his note-books; the afternoons to witnessing games 
and dances got up in our honor, and the evenings mostly to hearing 
Indian traditions, in which I remember feeling deeply interested at 
the time, but of which I do not now remember a word. 

The ceremony of adoption was a very simple one. In fact, all 
of it that I now can recall was a long address by old Jimmy Johnson, 
the religious teacher of the Indians; each of us reteived a name and 
Was made a member of a particular tribe; a different one in each ease, 
and learned who were our brothers, and who were only our cousins— 
all long forgotten. 


84 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


The morning sessions with the oldest Indians, held with them 
in their own houses, were very interesting. A number of these were 
devoted by Mr. Morgan to obtaining geographical names, Parker, as 
always, acting as interpreter. I was full of admiration of these old 
men, who in their youth had hunted over all Western New York and 
who showed such wonderful acquaintance with every river and stream. 
In fact the whole map appeared to exist in their minds. They seemed 
to have developed another sense, which we who depend on books and 
maps, do not possess. They were men of the woods, who, with nothing 
to depend on but their powers of observation and memory, in track- 
less forests could never lose their way. 

Our initiation was followed by a dance in the council house, in 
which we were allowed to participate, and were provided with part- 
ners. This was the only dance we witnessed in which the women took 
part. Then for the first time my ears were regaled with Indian 
music. Two young men were seated on opposite sides of a drum, 
which looked to me very much like a nail keg. On this they pounded 
violently with sticks, as an accompaniment to the most discordant 
howling. The Indian has no conception of musical intervals. The 
performance had therefore the attraction of complete novelty. But 
they kept good time, and the dancing was animated. 

This was followed by a curious feast. A bullock had been 
killed and cut up in Indian fashion; that is, all the flesh had been 
cut in small pieces and made into a stew. The large kettles in which 
this had been boiled were taken into the council house, and set in’a 
row in the middle of the floor, and the dancing was in a procession 
around them. The dancers were in pairs, facing each other, about six 
feet apart, one moving forward and the other backward, with a 
shuffling step. Every minute or two, on a signal from the leader, 
all changed places. I remember that my partner by a sudden excla- 
mation saved me from dancing backward into a kettle of hot stew. 
Every family had brought a pail, and at the conclusion of the dance 
these pails were filled, and the stew carried home to be eaten. 

I was much impressed on another afternoon by a grand thanks- 
giving dance performed by thirty or forty young men, attired in full 
Indian dress, that is, in head-feathers and breech-cloth. The dance 
was really inspiring. It was a slowly advancing processional dance, 
in single file. Each dancer seemed to follow his own inspiration and 
all appeared to vie with each other in the vigor of their steps and 
the stateliness of their postures. This exhibition of animated 
statuary, with the varied and majestic character of their movements, 
had a grandeur which to my mind was most suggestive of the senti- 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE [kOQUOIS 85 


ment of worship which it was intended to express. Just in this 
manner, doubtless, King David ‘‘danced before the Lord with all his 
might.’’ 

We were entertained at several houses, different families taking 
us in turn, and apparently proud to do so. The entertainment, how- 
ever, was everywhere the same. We enjoyed most the hospitality of 
Parker’s father, who was a rather progressive Indian of the Christian 
party and who spoke a little English. His daughter Caroline whom 
the Society was having educated in the State Normal School in Albany 
was then at home, and helped much to make it pleasant for us. She 
seemed quite as exceptional as her brother Ely. 

We were naturally interested in what we should get to eat. The 
reader may be amused by a description of our breakfast. Corn was 
kept on the cob. The inner husks were turned back and braided 
together, the ears being arranged like a bunch of Chinese crackers. 
The first thing every morning, some of these were unbraided and 
the corn was shelled by rubbing two ears together. The corn was 
then boiled a few minutes in a kettle with ashes. This completely 
removed the skin and cortex from every kernel. The former floated 
and were poured off with the water. The latter softened sufficiently 
to be pounded into a meal, were washed in clean water and placed 
in the mortar, which was a tree-stump, hollowed out. The women, 
standing on opposite sides of the mortar with their pounders soon 
made the corn fine enough. We were awakened every morning by the 
sound of the pounders all over the reservation. 

The meal was then mixed with black beans and made into cakes 
about an inch thick and six or eight inches in diameter, without salt 
or leaven. These cakes were set on edge in a pot of water and 
boiled for perhaps half an hour, when breakfast was ready. Our 
beverage was hemlock tea, without milk or sugar. Dinner was the 
same, except that the corn and beans were made into succotash, 
instead of cakes; and sometimes we had beef stew. 

When we left, a brother of Ely Parker [Levi], a lad about 
twelve years old, drove us over to the village where we were to take 
the train, and we invited him to dine with us. At dinner he stared at 
us with distending eyeballs, and at last exclaimed: ‘‘How you eat! 
You made me think of the appetite I had once, after I had been a 
week with the white folks and could hardly eat anything.’’ 


Mr. Porter describes in his letter the disturbed mind of 
the good Baptist missionary who occupied the Mission 
station at Tonawanda. The preacher had endeavored to 


86 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


discourage the ‘‘old time’’ ways as things that carried the 
minds of the Indians backward, while his gospel and his 
school bade them look forward into a different life. Mr. 
Porter defends the Indians, however, from the imputation 
of having done anything wrong. They were not idolators, 
he says, and then he asks, ‘‘And who ever heard of any 
Christians who were more grateful to the Giver-of-all for 
so little?”’ 

The idea of writing a book on the Iroquois must have 
occurred to Morgan soon after his acquaintance with 
Parker. One of his earliest papers was read before the 
New York Historical Society in 1846 under the title: ‘‘ An 
Essay on the Constitutional Government of the Six Nations. 
of Indians.’’ The paper was never printed but it gives 
evidence that Morgan had a knowledge of the ‘‘Great 
Law’’ or constitution of the Confederacy, at which no other 
writer for many years has even hinted. 3 

Later, in 1847, Morgan prepared a series of ‘‘ Letters on 
the Iroquois’ and published them in the American Whig 
Review, under the pen name of Schenandoah. Then came 
his activities in collecting for the New York State (Cabinet) 
Museum. His constant companion was Ely Parker and 
his collecting headquarters was at the Parker house. Ely 
went with him to Grand river, and piloted him through 
the wilds. Their stopping-place there was with a Mohawk 
family named Loft. The mother of that family still 
remembers the visits of Parker and Morgan and tells what 
she gave to help them in their efforts. 

Many of their traditions were recorded by Ely Parker, 
who also took down translations of his grandfather’s 
speeches on ceremonial occasions. Nicholson and Ely both 
contributed their boyish essays on Indian life and the 


3. This ancient code of Iroquois law edited by the present writer has beem 
jpublished by the State Museum under title of “The Constitution of the Five 
Nations.”’ 


LAST GRAND SACHEM CF THE IROQUOIS 87 


description of the Seneca dances found in the ‘*League’”’ is 
mostly from their joint labors. 

Morgan had a rare mind for a man of his time, and in 
collecting the specimens of native workmanship for the 
New York State Museum, did so, not with the idea of 
getting curiosities but with the studied purpose of illus- 
trating in a detailed way the material culture of a people. 
He gathered utensils of domestic life, weapons, and 
ornaments and fabrics in a methodical manner so as to 
illustrate, not only the use of the object, but the method 
of its manufacture through various stages. This paved 
the way for detailed inquiry into the civic laws of 
the people. His principal informants were William and 
Elizabeth Parker, the parents of his collaborator, Ely 
Parker. Here he tapped a fount of knowledge, for Jimmy 
Johnson was the high priest of the Confederacy, and a 
reciter of its old laws. William was familiar with many 
of the old hunting laws, and the geography of the Indian 
country ; and with his wife Elizabeth gave Morgan descrip- 
tions and models of the ancient long-houses. In later years 
Morgan, in writing of this, says: 

An elderly Seneca woman, Elizabeth Parker, informed the writer, 
thirty years ago, that when she was a girl, she lived in one of these 
joint houses (called by them long-houses), which contained eight 
families and two fires, and that her mother and her grandmother, 
in their day, had acted as matrons over one of these large house- 
holds. This mere glimpse at the ancient Iroquois plan of life, now 
entirely passed away, and of which remembrance is nearly lost, is 
highly suggestive. It shows that their domestic economy was not 
without method, and it displays the care and management of woman, 
low down in barbarism, for husbanding their resources and for 
improving their condition. A knowledge of these houses, and how 
to build them, is not even yet lost among the Senecas. Some years 
ago Mr. William Parker, a Seneca chief, constructed for the writer 


a model of one of these long-houses, showing in detail its external 
and internal mechanism. 


88 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


Finally after much patient inquiry Lewis H. Morgan 
produced his book, ‘‘The League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee 
of Iroquois.’’ It was published in 1851 by Sage & Brother 
of Rochester. The dedication reads as follows: 


TO HA-SO-NO-AN-DA (ELY S. PARKER) 
A SENECA INDIAN 


This Work, The Materials of which are the 
fruit of our joint researches, Is inscribed; In 
Acknowledgment of the Obligations, and In 
Testimony of the Friendship of The Author. 


This book is recognized today as being the first method- 
ical treatise along scientific lines ever written of an ethnic 
group of mankind. At least it was the first account of this 
character, relating to an Indian tribe. It won for Morgan 
the title of ‘‘the father of American anthropology.’’ Not- 
withstanding its great value it contains a number of errors 
both in statement of fact and in the viewpoint of certain 
matters, but these circumstances do not detract from the 
fact that the book is a valuable guide and a classic. Cer- 
tainly it immediately created a host of students and stim- 
ulated inquiry into the institutions and conditions of the 
red race. 

Many of the choicest heirlooms of the Iroquois were pro- 
eured for the State Museum of New York by Ely Parker 
and turned over to Morgan. The choicest native textiles, 
rare embroideries in dyed moose-hair and poreupine quills, 
had been the work of the women of the family. Even 
several of the pieces of bead-work were made by Caroline 
Parker and the costume represented in the plate just pre- 
ceding Morgan’s ‘‘Spirit of the League’’ was made by her. 
Ga-ha-no the maiden who is shown as wearing it is none 
other than Caroline, who holds her head just to one side— 
a characteristic pose. 


ale Mts 


“wbhada dl ore 


CAROLINE G. PARKER 


Later, Mrs. Mountpleasant. Sister of Ely S. Parker. 
Compare with the plate, ““Ga-hah-no, a Seneca Indian Girl,” 
in Morgan’s ‘‘The League of the Iroquois.”’ 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE [kOQUOIS &9 


Among the rarer relics in the State collection is Corn- 
planter’s tomahawk. This beautiful relic of the days now 
gone forever, has an interesting history, for it is only by 
accident that it did not share the fate of many other his- 
torical objects destroyed by the old chief. 

Cornplanter had left his tomahawk at the cabin of a 
relative and so did not destroy it. Later it was sent to a 
friend of his known as Canada. When Canada died his 
widow preserved the heirloom which was widely known 
and often looked at by the curious among the tribes. When 
her cabin burned it was Ely Parker who reseued it from 
the flames. To him it was a part of family history, for 
Cornplanter was the half brother of his great grandfather. 

Once again the tomahawk was threatened by fire. When 
on March 29, 1911, the State Library and the archelogical 
collections were destroyed by a disastrous fire, the writer 
tore the tomahawk from the ease where it hung. The blade 
was too hot to hold in the hand and the varnish on the 
handle was blistered. In that fire perished ten thousand 
specimens of Iroquois handiwork, including more than one 
hundred of the implements and textiles collected by 
Morgan. 

The Parker home was in a measure the spot where a new 
American science was born. The family has ever felt 
responsible for recording and preserving the fame of its 
race. The store of old-time lore held by the older mem- 
bers of the family was made available by the education 
of Ely. Morgan and Parker, each in his turn, and using 
what opportunity he had, did his best to stimulate wider 
inquiry. The task undertaken by them has not yet been 
finished. The complete story of the Iroquois is yet to be 
written. 

In after years other books were written in Nicholson 
Parker’s home, among them, ‘‘The Iroquois, or the Bright 
Side of Indian Character,’’ by Minnie Myrtle, and ‘‘Our 


$0 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


Life Among the Iroquois,’’ by Harriet Caswell, not to speak 
oi translations of hymn books, the Bible and a newspaper 
known as the Mental Elevator, published in the Seneca. 
tongue. : 

Nicholson lectured through central New York for several 
years on the subject of the Iroquois, and his sons and grand- 
children following his example have done what opportunity 
has called them to do in spreading the fame of the League 
of the Iroquois. 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 9E 


CHAPTER VIII 


EARLY EXPERIENCE AS AN ENGINEER AND 
MASONIC CAREER 


For several years Parker stayed near his home and was 
soon able to purchase a large estate near his father’s land. 
His chief occupation, however, was that of superintending 
the improvements on the western terminal of the Erie 
Canal. This was invaluable training. 

There are several persons who recollect having seen him 
engaged in running lines, laying out new feeders and 
carrying on his office work in Rochester. One man tells how 
Ely Parker could recognize a man’s voice without seeing his 
face. ‘‘I was often sent down with verbal messages to 
deliver to Ely Parker,’’ one informant says, ‘‘and would 
call out the message to him. He would keep his eyes riveted 
on his work and without ever turning to look at me would 
talk over the requirements, calling me by name. -I always 
thought it strange that he could talk with his back to me, 
but he seemed to know what was going on behind him.’’ 

Parker’s proximity to his people gave him an abundant 
opportunity for helping them in their national affairs. and 
he was rewarded for saving his people by being given, 
before he reached the age of twenty-one, the sachemship 
of the Senecas, when he became known as Do-ne-ho-ga-wa. 
This name means ‘‘Open Door”’ or ‘‘ Keeper of the Western 
Door,’’ and alludes to the fact that his office was to guard 
the western door of the Long House and mark well those 
who entered and passed out. The ancient laws required 
him to place, metaphorically, of course, the slabs of slippery 
elm bark at the threshold as the mat for the undesirable- 
Thus he became the most important officer in the Seneca 


92 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


council and one of the fifty civil sachems of the Iroquois 
confederacy. 

For five years he held the office of resident engineer at 
Rochester, where he had many friends. During this time 
he kept up an active interest in his farm, raised his colts 
and looked after his parents. To add to his many duties 
he was appointed United States interpreter, and always 
accompanied the agent on his trips. The office had pre- 
viously been held by Dr. Peter Wilson. 

Nicholson and Carrie in the meantime were completing 
their courses in the Albany Normal School, where Nick 
won some little fame as an orator. Many of his essays and 
orations remain to tell of his attempts at platform-speak- 
ing. He discussed many subjects, but his longest discourses 
were always on Indian topics. After graduation he 
~ returned to Tonawanda to manage his farm and to look 
after his brother Ely’s estate. Ely’s special injunction was 
always, ‘‘Take care of the colts.’’ He had inherited his 
father’s love of horses and always wanted a fine span of 
lively colts for his personal use. 

The Tonawanda Indians at this time were in a most 
peculiar position. By the ‘‘treaty’’ of 1838, which was 
obtained by fraud and bribery, the New York Senecas had 
parted with every foot of ground they had in New York. 
The Tonawandas had steadfastly refused to consider any 
treaty and had no part in the transaction. Later, in 1842, 
a compromise treaty was signed by President Martin Van 
Buren. The earlier treaty compensated the Senecas for 
their 114,862 acres of land at the rate of about $1.67 an 
acre and gave them certain tracts of land in Kansas. The 
treaty of 1842, however, allowed the Indians to stay in 
their old home country, providing they would accept the 
Allegheny and Cattaraugus reservations and give up 
Buffalo and Tonawanda. All the chiefs signed the treaty 
except those at Tonawanda. They refused to a man, either 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IR£OQUOIS 93 


to be bribed or bought out. Moreover, when their kinsmen 
signed away their land they refused to acknowledge the 
right, asserting the doctrine of ‘‘state rights.’’ The order 
came for them to move on, either to Kansas or to one of 
the other reservations that still had the yoke of the Ogden 
' “‘elaim’’ hitched to it. Their hearts were bitter and they 
refused to move from their homes. They were allowed to 
remain, since it was thought some means for ejecting them 
could be found. With this threat of sudden ejectment 
hanging over them the Tonawanda Senecas lived in con- 
stant fear. It was a fear that paralyzed effort and gave 
but scanty encouragement to industry or improvement. 
They lived in an atmosphere of constant suspense. But 
one ambition animated them. It was to get a deed by pur- 
chase for the land that was theirs. In that lay their only 
salvation. 

The Tonawandas had learned several things and one was 
that the usurpation of their government by the war chiefs 
had brought great harm. They therefore repudiated the 
military chiefs and gave their government into the hands 
of the ancient ho-ya-neh or sachems, together with their 
assistants. To illustrate how far the Senecas had departed 
from their ancient laws it is only necessary to show the 
entire nation situated on the four reservations, submitied 
to an unstable rule by eighty-one chiefs; instead of the 
eight constituted by the ancient law of the confederacy. 
Any man who would get out and by power of fist, bribery 
or through force of personality, collect a following could 
be a ‘‘chief.’’ This was veritable anarchy and was made 
good use of by the ‘“‘land-grabbers.’’ The Tonawandas 
alone were conservative and clung to the higher ideals of 
the old way. 

In 1855 Ely Parker, or Do-ne-ho-ga-wa, as he was known 
to both the whites and Indians, was appointed chief 
engineer on the Chesapeake & Albemarle canal. He left 


94 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


his home and went to his southern post. His brother Nick, 
or Gai-wa-go-wa, had married Martha Hoyt, the niece of 
the Wrights who were the American Board missionaries at 
Buffalo and later at Cattaraugus. 

Ely Parker laid out all the preliminary surveys for the 
new canal, made the final draft, and even chose the final 
location for the canal. His success kept him active as 
superintendent of the construction for several months 
longer. It did not hold him, however, for the Government 
needed engineers, and the Secretary of the Treasury, 
Guthrie, offered him the position of constructing engineer 
for the Lighthouse District composed of Lakes Huron, 
Michigan and Superior. This work was a new variation, 
but he was uniformly successful in the new task, holding 
the title Major, since the task was for military purposes. 

These isolated positions in a rough country and amid 
erude surroundings were not always to Parker’s taste. He 
loved occasional society and would frequently attend local 
social functions where he could mingle with cultured 
people. At one time while on the Chesapeake & Albemarle 
assignment, he had an office at Fortress Monroe, Virginia. 
The monotonous evenings palled on him and when some of 
his companions proposed that they all go to the grand. 
ball at Norfolk, he was one of the first to push the propo- 
sition. When the uninvited party was about to enter the 
ball-room the floor manager stepped before the door and 
refused them admission. In vain did they argue—all 
except Parker; he acted. Stepping up to the offending 
manager he grasped him by the seat of the trousers and by 
the nape of the neck; carrying him a few steps to the 
stairs he held the terrified man over the abyss and then 
dropped him. Turning quietly as if nothing had happened, 
he entered the ball-room and had an enjoyable evening with 
his party. ‘‘The gentlemen as well as the ladies were very 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 95 


eourteous,’’ he confessed in later years when he was pressed 
for the story. 

Parker was phenomenally strong but seldom used this 
power to injure anyone. He was as gentle as he was 
strong when made indignant by insult that concerned 
others more than himself. His great expanse of chest gave 
him lung power as well as muscles to sustain his arm action. 

During his stay in Illinois it is said he was pounced 
upon by a hotel-keeper who sought to push him into the 
street. The inn-keeper’s wife who tells the story says the 
Indian shook her husband loose and grabbing him by the 
shoulders swung him around in a circle until her husband’s 
body lay straight out in the air like a rope and his heels 
swept over the bar or knocked against the wall. She inter- 
ceded and Parker set the inn-keeper down. Later they 
became good friends but whenever Parker came to see them 
he would laughingly grab his new friend and give him 
another swing, ‘‘just for old time’s sake.’’ 

Parker once said he was afraid to use his strength for 
he did not know what the results would be. ‘‘A man came 
up to me in a hotel in Buffalo,’’ he once related by way of 
illustration, ‘‘and after looking at me a moment made a 
grab for me as if he wanted to wrestle. I did not want to 
hurt him and so I grabbed him by the upper arms and 
held them firmly. Suddenly he let out a peculiar yell, so 
strange that I let go of him. A few days later he came 
back to the hotel and asked for me. I met him in the lobby 
and he said, ‘I want to speak to you.’ I thought he wanted 
to fight and so I loosened my neckerchief so he could not 
twist it and choke me. He started to take off his broad- 
cloth coat. The old cloth was torn in a few places where 
I had pinched him and both his arms were black. He said, 
“I want to show you how you abused me. I could not move 
my arms without great pain for two days. I think you 
ought to give me something.’ I felt sorry for him for his 


96 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


arms looked very bad, and I had spoiled his coat. I made 
up my mind to be careful after that.’’ 

In 1857 Parker was appointed superintendent of con- 
struction for a custom-house and a marine hospital in 
Galena, Illinois. Here he became acquainted with the clerk 
in the harness store and often had long ‘‘talks’’ with him, 
though the clerk did most of the talking. They became 
quite friendly especially after Parker had rescued the 
clerk from a serious predicament due to the ‘‘overflowing 
bowl.’’ The harness shop clerk was Captain Ulysses 8. 
Grant. 

Parker found great comfort in his love of Free-masonry. 
Back in 1847, he had been ‘‘raised,’’ as Masons say, in 
Batavia Lodge, No. 88. Later he affiliated with Valley 
Lodge, No. 109, of Rochester. This was on May 6, 1850. 
He became immediately active in Galena and with a few 
Masons that he found there, he became one of the founders 
of Miners Lodge, No. 273. He demitted from his home 
lodge September 6, 1858, and became the first Wor- 
shipful Master of Miner’s Lodge in Galena. He was a 
member of both the Royal Arch and of the Knights 
Templar and his love of Masonry as well as his popularity 
with his fellowmen is shown in that he was Worshipful 
Master of Miner’s Lodge in 1858-’59-’60, and M. E. High 
Priest of Jo Daviess Chapter of the Royal Arch in 1859- 
°60-’61. He was elected Grand Orator of the Grand Lodge 
of Illinois in 1861 but his duties as a Government engineer 
prevented his accepting the honor. In 1860, he was, how- 
ever, grand representative near the Grand Lodge of Illinois. 

Among the distinguished men of his time who were 
initiated into Masonry by Parker was General J. C. Smith. 
General Smith in writing of this in the Masonic Chronicle 
says: 

May 25, 1861, Brother Parker as Worshipful Master of Miner’s 
Lodge, No. 273, raised the Venerable Chief of this Masonic Veterans’ 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 97 


Association to the sublime degree of Master Mason, having previously 
made him an Entered Apprentice and a Fellow Craft Mason. March 
15, 1860, having at various dates conferred other degrees as High 
Priest of Jo Daviess Chapter, No. 51, he exalted the venerable chief 
to the Holy Royal Arch; hence, Do-ne-ho-ga-wa, the Six Nations 
Brother Ely 8S. Parker, was my father in Free Masonry. 

Brave and eloquent as was Red Jacket, so was our veteran 
brother. Of the bravest of the brave, tender and loving as a woman, 
courteous as a Chevalier Bayard, the soul of honor and integrity, he, 
too, was an orator who would have been deemed worthy of Grecian 
prizes. 1 


General Smith refers to the oration delivered by Parker 
at the Masonic banquet in Chicago in 1859. Ely Parker 
spoke of himself as almost the last of what once was a 
powerful and noble people, of his struggle in early man- 
hood of seeing his race disintegrating; and he asked: 


Where shall I go when the last of my race shall have gone forever? 
Where shall I find home and sympathy when our last council fire is 
extinguished? I said, I will knock at the door of Masonry and see 
if the white race will recognize me as they did my ancestors when 
we were strong and the white man weak. I knocked at the door of 
the Blue Lodge and found brotherhood around its altar. I knelt 
before the great light in the Chapter and found companionship 
beneath the royal rock. I entered the Commandery and found valiant 
Sir Knights willing to shield me here without regard to race or 
nation. I went further. I knelt at the cross of my Saviour and 
found Christian brotherhood, the crowning charity of the Masonic tie. 
I am most happy to meet you in the grand councils of this gathering, 
and sit with you at this festive board to share these greetings and 
hospitalities. 

I feel assured that when my glass is run out and I shall follow 
the footsteps of my departed race, Masonic sympathies will cluster 
round my coffin and drop in my grave the evergreen acacia, sweet 
‘emblem of a better meeting. If my race shall disappear from this 
continent, I shall have the consoling hope that our memory will not 
perish. If the deeds of my ancestors shall not live in story, their 
memories remain in the names of your great lakes and rivers, your 
towns and cities to call up memories otherwise forgotten. 


1. Vol. 16, No. 2, Columbus, Ohio, Nov., 1896. 


98 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


His address concluded in a like strain and one of his 
auditors? records: ‘‘Silence reigned as our brother sat 
down, eyes were dimmed and hearts were too full for 
speech.’’ 

Later Parker became a charter member of Akron Lodge, 
No. 257, near his birthplace, and became its first Worship- 
ful Master. <A portrait of him hangs in the lodge room 
today. 


2. Gen. J. C. Smith. tha 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 99 


CHAPTER IX 


HOW PARKER’S ENLISTMENT WAS REFUSED 
BY SECRETARY SEWARD 


When the first rumors of a clash between the North and 
the South were heard, Ely Parker was interested. His 
country was in trouble and his natural instinct was to fight 
for it. However, he could not easily abandon his work on 
the levees of the Mississippi and he was prevailed upon to 
stay for ‘‘the war would last but a few months at most.’’ 

His friend, Captain Grant, however, recruited a regi- 
ment and was later ordered to the front. He was com- 
missioned Brigadier-General and much was heard about 
his work below Cairo, especially his capture of Fort Henry. 
The war dragged on and Parker resolved to resign his 
position and go back to Tonawanda, get his father’s con- 
sent to ‘‘go to war,’’ and then tender his services to the 
Governor of New York. He resigned absolutely in 1862 
and went back home. His father was glad to see him but 
was worried when he told why he had come. 

‘*Father,’’ he said in his native tongue, ‘‘I think I ought 
to fight for my country just as you did years ago. I want 
you to let me go.’’ 

“*My son,’’ said the old man, ‘‘I have only my children 
now, since your mother has gone. I will think it over and 
tell you tomorrow.’’ 

In telling about the incident later Parker said, ‘‘The 
next morning my father told me to go, he said that I ought 
to go. I don’t think he slept much, judging from his 
looks.’’ 

It is related that when Ely showed his father a picture 
of the army officers and a drawing of one of the battle 
scenes, as illustrated in Harper’s Weekly, that William, 


100 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IkOQUOIS 


his father, looked at the portraits carefully and then plac- 
ing his finger on that of Grant’s said: ‘‘Here is the man 
who will be the great general who shall lead his army to 
victory. You follow him and you will be a great war 
captain, too.’’ 

It is interesting to note that both Newton, who already 
had enlisted, and Ely asked their father’s permission to 
go into battle. They were men and independent of their 
father, yet they respected him, and like dutiful sons of the 
Seneca, asked their sire’s blessing on their project. 

There was a great deal of talk about Ely’s going to war. 
Some of the old women thought he ought to lay aside his 
title as sachem, for no Iroquois sachem of the ‘‘Great 
Peace’’ could ever enter battle, bearing his title. Others 
thought it was a white man’s war and that he need not 
abdicate his sachemship. So they feasted him and made 
speeches in his honor and sent him on to the Governor of 
the State. 

He arrived in Albany full of ambition and high in hopes. 
In full confidence he went to the Governor and asked for a 
commission, mentioning his experiences as an engineer. 
The Governor looked at him and said that he had no place 
for him and that he had much better go home. Parker 
was stunned at his rebuff but went back to Rochester to 
consult his friends there. He was still determined to go to 
the front. While there he met Mr. W. W. Wright, an old 
acquaintance who in after years recorded his impression 
of him at this time. Mr. Wright’s statements are not 
entirely correct in some instances but in general his narra- 
tive is good. It runs as follows: 


Some seven or eight years before the commencement of the 
Rebellion I met Colonel Parker at the old Mansion House, Albany, 
which stood upon the ground now occupied by the crockery store of 
Van Heusen Charles & Company. It so happened that this gathering 
included some of the most noted politicians and brilliant orators of 
the State. Among others I remember Judge Church, Attorney 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 101 


General, and ex-speaker Levi S. Chatfield, ex-Senator Orville Clark 
of Sandy Hill, and the man of all others most at home on such 
occasions, General James W. Nye. It was a happy affair and a 
great success. Its incidents were remembered and discussed for 
years afterwards by those who participated in this ‘‘ feast of reason 
and flow of soul.’’ 

All the distinguished men I have named. and many others, were 
ealled out, and delivered appropriate and entertaining speeches, but 
the speech of the evening that called forth on its delivery the mest 
vociferous applause, and was best remembered after the event has 
passed, came from an unexpected quarter. It was made by Ely S. 
Parker, the Indian, and everybody was surprised and delighted. He 
had just come from some school (which I do not remember),! and 
this was probably the first occasion for airing his oratory. It was 
certainly his first appearance in such distinguished company, and he 
might well be proud of his triumph in such a place. But his modesty 
and good taste were as conspicuous as the wit and intellectual features 
of his speech. 

He had just chosen the profession of civil engineering, and was 
already employed upon the construction and enlargements of our 
eanals. At that date the railroads attracted little attention, and 
engineers almost universally sought employment upon the canals of 
New York, Pennsylvania and the newer states of the West, like Ohio, 
Indiana and Illinois. Nobody then believed that the railroads, which 
then occupied but a few hundred miles leading to and from our most 
populous cities, through the richest and most densely settled por- 
tions of the country . . . would ever so completely supersede 
our waterways .. . 

Of course I was attracted to Parker by his extraordinary speech, 
and watched his career with special interest. But he did not happen 
to be employed where I often met him, and we barely kept up a speak- 
ing acquaintance, and after a few years he disappeared from our 
eanals altogether. 

I had almost forgotten him till the first or second year of the 
Rebellion when I met him in the streets of Rochester. I asked where 
he had been and whether he had abandoned his profession. He 
informed me he had not, but left the service of the State to take a 
position under the Government, on the Mississippi, and that he had 
located at Galena. 


1. Parker had been ‘“‘out of school’’ for several years and had considerable 
experience in public speaking. He had many times before appeared in Albany as 
well as in society circles in Washington. Mr. Wright errs therefore, in assuming 
this as the entrance of Ely Parker into polite society. 


102 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


After a pleasant chat he asked me if I had ever known Captain 
Grant, and I replied in the negative, but said that there was such 
an officer, a few years earlier, in command of the barracks at 
Sacketts Harbor. I owned and occupied a farm a few miles from 
that post, and generally knew the officers, but this one I never met, 
though I had often heard of him. Colonel Parker said he had become 
well acquainted with him, that he had rejoined the army, and he 
added in substance, ‘‘TI shall go with him. He is a most extraordinary 
man. We are about the enter upon the most gigantic war in history. 
The country has many experienced and able military leaders, and 
most of them will be found on the Union side, but not one of them 
will be found capable of dealing successfully with this terrible 
rebellion unless it be this Captain Grant. Now recollect my prophecy: 

He will come forth as the great central figure of the loyal states 
and will win a name and a fame which has no parallel in modern 
times.’’ 2 

Writing from casual conversation, I can hardly do justice to 
the manner and the matter of Parker’s singular estimate of the 
coming hero. But in view of General Grant’s subsequent career and 
achievements, I never forgot his prediction, which if not inspired, 
deserved to be recorded as a singularly correct estimate of those 
qualities required of the great leader of the Union armies, and the 
discovery that they were all to be found in the then obscure ex-Army 
Captain. 3 


From Rochester, Parker went down to Washington to 
offer his services as engineer to the War Department. He 
was yet full of enthusiasm and filled with high hopes of 
becoming a real help in a time of trouble. All his eduea- 
tion and training had fitted him for an army engineer. 

In full confidence, therefore, the young engineer called 
upon Secretary William H. Seward and offered to give 
his services to the Union. Parker later records his reply. 

‘‘Mr. Seward in a short time said to me that the struggle 
in which I wished to assist, was an affair between white 
men and one in which the Indian was not called to act. 


2. This was his father’s prophecy made to Gen. Parker when he went home 
to ask his parent’s consent to enlist. 


3. From a letter from Hon. W. W. Wright, dated Geneva, N. Y., June 15, 
1888. 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 103 


‘The fight must be settled by the white men alone,’ he said. 
“Go home, cultivate your farm and we will settle our own 
troubles without any Indian aid.’’’ (The italics are the 
author’s because of later developments. ) 

Parker does not record how he felt, but it is easy to 
imagine his feelings after having lost his old home through 
a fraudulent treaty; after having been denied admission to 
the legal profession and after having been rebuffed by 
the Secretary of War—all because he was an Indian. Many 
a man would have said: ‘‘The white man’s country can 
go to Liberia if it wants to. I won’t worry over it.’? But 
he did not say even that though he had resigned a splendid 
position and staked his all on getting a commission. 

He simply obeyed what seemed the only recourse. He 
went back to the farm, heard the jeers of his rivals, heard 
of the success of other Indians. of Dr. Wilson who had 
become an army surgeon, and of three hundred Seneca 
volunteers who had gone to the front. And yet he was 
not wanted because this was a white man’s war that could 
be settled without Indian help! 

So he donned his blue jeans, cleared his land, pulled 
stumps, painted his barns and plowed his fields. It must 
not be forgotten that he planted a flag pole, too, and floated 
a big starry banner. 

He never talked much except when he had something 
important to say and thus he settled down to the routine of 
farm life and breeding horses. His father was glad to 
have such help, but sorry to hear his son called a failure 
by his people. This did not matter, for he stood an upright 
man before God and man. A man naturally proud and 
accustomed to honors, who knows what emotions raged in 
his breast? Who knows of the tumult there? Or who 
knows but that in his native philosophy he was as inwardly 
calm as he was outwardly? Iroquois philosophy is strange 
philosophy to modern Americans in our day and it may be 


104 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


safe to say that his spirit was at peace with itself, whatever 
ambitions it might have had. 

‘The fight must be settled by white men alone,’’ must 
have been a sentence that sounded strangely in his ears as 
it rang in his memory again and again. With three hun- 
dred of his kinsmen in the smoke of the ‘white man’s war’ 
it seemed as if he alone were not a white man and he alone 
the only Indian. And it may be that he inwardly gloried 
in the apparent fact that he alone was the Indian. 

The weeks came and went and he worked with his ponies 
and his wheat fields, his corn and his repairing. For 
recreation he hunted and fished as when a boy and it is 
believed he actually enjoyed it, for it was the life he loved 
most of all—the life on the farm, in the open, on the soil 
of his fathers, and amid simple surroundings. The only 
bitterness, if there were such, was the whispered insult, 
“‘He can’t be much of a man to be refused by the army.”’ 
He heard this but said nothing, looking only sadly at the 
thoughtless comrade who taunted him. 

As he was plowing for the spring planting, a horseman 
was seen galloping down the road. It was a military officer. 
He stopped a moment at the house and then cantered down 
the road to the field where Parker was plowing. Those who 
peered curiously down the road saw the officer hand Parker 
a document which when opened showed a big red seal that 
was plainly visible at a distance. 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE I[kOQUOIS 105 


CHAPTER X 


A SACHEM BECOMES A WARRIOR 


During the progress of the Civil War, Harper’s Weekly 
was a most eagerly read news source in the Parker home. 
Three or four times a week those who went to Akron or 
Batavia brought the newspapers and other periodicals, and 
thus Parker, once constructing engineer, and now farmer, 
gleaned the news and viewed the pictures of the war. He 
had watched the career of Grant from the time he won the 
first great victory of the war at Fort Donaldson, winning 
the name ‘‘ Unconditional Surrender Grant.’’ He had read 
of Bull Run and of Father Abraham’s call for volunteers, 
but he felt he at least was denied the right to join the 
chorus of the army song, ‘‘We are coming, Father Abra- 
ham, three hundred thousand strong.’’ Father Abraham’s 
secretary had turned him away. Fredericksburg and Mur- 
freesboro had passed into history and the Emancipation 
Proclamation had been hurled at the South. The city of 
New Orleans had been taken and war and adventure were 
everywhere making men martyrs or heroes. Then came the 
campaigns in the East, when Hooker crossed the Rapidan 
to march on to Richmond. News came of the disastrous 
fight at Chaneellorville, in which Stonewall Jackson fell 
and Hooker was wounded and unable to command his 
ranks. Here were chances for trained men. Why didn’t 
they want one more engineer? Had Grant forgotten him, 
and where were the rest? 

The Indian nodded at the flag that flapped at the top of 
the pole in front of his home and then went to the barn to 
hitch his horses for plowing. Chief, though he was, he 
grasped the plow and with a farmer’s skill and an 
engineer’s eye he turned over furrow after furrow of the 


106 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


good brown sod, in lines as straight as a rule. After all, 
if there were no cornfields there could be no battlefields. 
The farmers had to grow the food that soldiers ate; and 
so with his native philosophy ever ready, Parker simply 
plowed as an expression of his patriotism and duty. 

It would be interesting to know what he was thinking 
about when the horse galloped down the road. It would 
be interesting to know what he thought when he saw the 
military costume of the rider. We do not know. We only 
know that he stopped his horses in the furrow, took the 
document that was handed him and read it. The paper 
must have been full of interest and brought with it a denial 
of the galling words of Seward. 

‘Then came to me in my forest home a paper bearing 
the red seal of the War Department,’’ wrote Parker of the 
incident afterward. ‘‘It was an officer’s commission in 
the army of the United States.’’ 

This commission is said to have been signed by Lincoln 
himself, and transmitted through the Secretary of War. 
It brought with it the rank of Captain. ‘‘It seemed odd,’” 
Captain Parker once wrote, ‘‘that an Indian was now 
desired and that the Government wished to confer honors 
for which I had not served an apprenticeship, nor even 
asked.”’ 

On June 4, 1863, the commission was formally accepted 
and the newly-made army officer made ready to go to war. 
It was then that the Indians held a great council and asked 
their chief to remain to guide and protect them. A’ great 
feast was made in his honor and Do-ne-ho-ga-wa was com- 
mended to the care of the Great Spirit. A public thanks- 
giving was offered, thanking the Ruler of the Great-World- 
Above that the Keeper-of-the-Western Door had indeed 
guarded it well. The ‘‘Proclaimers of the Law’’ chanted 
the Adoweh ritual and the Keepers of the Faith invoked 
the spirits to guard the sachem who was to go to battle. 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 107 


Seoffers were silent and rivals were glad to sound the com- 
mon praise. 

Nothing has been said of an Indian maiden who was to 
wait until the war was over, but there was one who 
listened to the praise of the sachem, but as the war wore 
on did not wait. Like many things the soldier lost through 
sacrifice, Parker lost that which perhaps was best for any- 
one to lose before it is too late to lose—a faithless sweet- 
heart. But even this philosophy has never brought com- 
fort for violated faith, trust and confidence; every balm but 
irritates the open wound. Perhaps it is well we can not 
foreknow the acts of our friends; it would make us bitter 
many times. 

Captain Parker reported to General J. E. Smith as 
assistant adjutant general. The army record shows that he 
acted as division engineer of the 7th division, 17th army 
corps, until September 18, 1863, ‘‘And,’’ said General 
Smith, ‘‘he was a good engineer.’’ 

He joined Grant at Vicksburg, and entered that terrific 
long-drawn-out contest raw but eager and as stoical as any 
of his ancestors would have been. Vicksburg and its sur- 
roundings were anything but similar to the peaceful valley 
and the quiet farm ‘‘up North’’ that he had so suddenly 
abandoned only a bare month before. He faced the bullets, 
apparently with the disregard of a seasoned veteran. He 
followed Grant closely, he stood quietly under fire and rode 
with the troops where bullets were thickest. When the 
steamboat explosion occurred he stood as unconcerned as 
Grant himself, though in mentioning the event in later 
years he said, ‘‘Though Grant acted as if he never heard 
it, I noticed some appeared greatly startled and that even 
‘old Baldy’ walked a little faster than usual.’’ 

In writing to his brother Nicholson he said: ‘‘I fear no 
rebel bullet shot or shell in a fair fight, and to tell you my 


103 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE [hOQUOIS 


honest conviction, I do not believe I am to be killed in the 
war.’ 

Then to explain how he was received in the army he tells 
his brother Nicholson of his commission : 

‘‘My official experience in the army as an adjutant is 
checkered, or as some would say, singular. When IL 
received my appointment, the Secretary of War ordered 
me to report to General John E. Smith. He was delighted 
to receive me, and made it very pleasant for me. I was 
getting on swimmingly when orders came for me to report 
to Major-General Grant, and he put me on his staff.’’ 

Just why Parker was placed on Grant’s staff is explained 
by General Horace Porter, who says in his book: ‘‘He 
commended himself to Grant by his conduct in the Vicks- 
burg campaign and was then placed on his staff and served 
in the Adjutant General’s Department.’’ 

Parker had the power of concentrating his mind on the 
plan immediately before him and thus although often in 
the thickest of the fight he rode his horse as easily as if 
he neither heard nor saw the things that make war so 
hideous. Whether lack of fear is true bravery or not is a 
question, but like Grant, whom he so much admired, Parker 
would face the music of battle as if it were all a game. 

At Vicksburg he caught the fever and ague and tried 
to break it with the usual remedy of whiskey and quinine, 
and quinine sometimes was scarce even in headquarters. 
However, the remedy gave temporary relief but not until 
he had suffered severely with the malady. In the journey 
‘by gunboat from Vicksburg to Cairo, Parker was constantly 
under an army physician’s care and the doctor told him 
afterward he ‘‘sure was a sick Indian.’’ 

The Vicksburg campaign gave him a taste of real war 
and he proved his mettle. Then followed the campaign 
of Chattanooga with its bloody battles and thousands of 
slain. All through the campaign he was with Grant and 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 109 


in one of his letters he tells of ridmg with the commander 
for half a mile directly under the enemy’s fire. A delay 
had cut the staff from headquarters. 

The transfer from one division to another was full of 
incidents for the Indian warrior who was acting in the 
capacity of adjutant. Of one he writes: 

‘*In October, 1863, in going from Bridgeport, Alabama, 
to Chattanooga, Tennessee, to assume command of the 
Military Division of the Tennessee, General Grant halted 
for lunch on the summit of the mountains he was crossing. 
A’ sleet-storm was raging, compelling him to step into a 
log cabin for temporary shelter. This cabin had one large 
square room, used for sleeping-room, sitting-room and 
dining-room, and also as a kitchen, or cooking-room. Here 
he found two or three women and several young children. 
They were all poorly and scantily clad; the furniture was 
mostly home-made, the bedding was scarce and the larder 
apparently empty. When asked where the husband and 
men folks were, the simple reply of the women was, ‘ Hiding 
in the mountains.’ Alas for them, they were Unionists and 
to live at home was not safe. When asked if they had any 
provisions in the house the women replied, ‘Yes, a little 
meal, but no meat.’ The General’s heart was touched; and 
although supplies were low and his soldiers were as his 
own children, he left them an order on any train-master 
passing on the way to Chattanooga with provisions, to 
leave for this family a barrel of flour and one-half barrel 
of pork.’’ 

At Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge Parker 
acquitted himself with honor, but like his forefathers, was 
silent when in the presence of others, unless he had some- 
thing of value to communicate. Captain Beckwith in his 
memorial address! mentioned this quality and said that in 


1. Publications, Bufialo Historical Society, vol. VIII, p. 515. 


110 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IkOQUOIS 


riding with him to the summit of Lookout Mountain, 
Parker scarcely uttered a word. 

While at Nashville during January, 1864, the chills and 
fever came on again and the usual remedy was prescribed. 
Brady, the photographer, who was a good friend of 
Parker’s, told with a great display of amusement just how 
the army ‘‘ague’’ remedy affected him. He is the author- 
ity for saying that after the medicine had taken effect, a 
series of loud war-whoops rang out and the Indian was 
seen chasing Bowers, one of the other adjutants, who was 
fleeing in apparent fear of his life. However, there was 
no bad feeling between the two, who were in fact great 
friends. In army days when medicine was not practiced 
as now, this effect of the ague remedy was common. In 
the years following the war Parker became an absolute 
teetotaler. During a severe illness his physician told him 
to take a dram of whiskey at certain intervals. ‘‘I will not 
use it,’’ he said emphatically. ‘‘You must use it or you 
may die,’’ said his doctor. ‘‘ Well, if that is the ease,’’ he 
answered, ‘‘I shall still refuse. I do not have to take 
whiskey but I do have to die sooner or later.’’ And so he 
refused—and lived, despite his doctor’s warning. 

Parker was often called upon to lay out a line of 
entrenchments and often made the surveys directly under 
fire. He was known everywhere in the Army of the 
Potomac as ‘‘the Indian’’ and as he rode upon his great 
black horse he was a conspicuous figure. In the operations 
about Richmond he was constantly engaged in the engineer- 
ing. 

The appointment of Grant as Lieutenant General in 
February, 1864; drew the army together and gave it new 
strength. Then began the operation of the Army of the 
Potomac which on April 30, 1864, numbered 92,000 men 
and 274 field guns. Against this force Lee opposed with 
only 64,000 men and 224 guns. Then began the campaign 


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LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IkOQUOIS 111 


of the Wilderness and the endeavor to capture Richmond 
and the grimly determined announcement: ‘‘I propose to 
fight it out on this line if it takes all summer.’’ Thus com- 
menced the struggle in the tangled wilds. The country 
had been stripped of its virgin forest and had become a 
desolate region of stumps, underbrush and pitfalls. 

On one of those rare occasions when he could be pre- 
vailed upon to talk of his army career, the General told of 
his adventures in the wilderness: 

**As a matter of fact I was never concerned about getting 
killed in open battle,’’ he said. ‘‘Bullets were flying 
through the air constantly but I got used to them. I even 
grew hardened to the sight of the dead and wounded on the 
field. I did not believe I was to be killed by a bullet and 
though I was under fire many a time I came through the 
war without a wound. My coat and hat got a few holes. 

‘*When I was a young man I was fond of hunting and 
learned the art of wooderaft in all its minute details. I 
eould track a deer even over the leaves. I developed the 
instinct to feel the presence of game or danger. Perhaps 
I had the good will of the spirits. This was useful to me 
oftentimes during battle or in the presence of danger. I 
distinctly remember the time while we were riding together 
—the whole staff, at Spottsylvania. It was one day when 
General Grant led out for a ride with General Meade; Raw- 
lins and I were in the rear and Comstock was leading. I 
noticed that we were riding into the rebel line. I said to 
Rawlins, ‘Where is the General going?’ He answered, ‘I 
don’t know.’ ‘If he doesn’t look out,’ I told him, ‘he will 
be in the rebel lines.’ 

*“Then Rawlins roared out: ‘Hey! General, do you know 
where you are?’ (He always treated Grant like a dog.) 
‘No,’ he replied, ‘Comstock, do you?’ ‘No,’ answered Com- 
stock, ‘but Parker says if you don’t look out we will ride 
plumb into the rebel lines!’ 


112 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


‘* “Parker,’ called Grant, ‘do you know where we are?’ 
I answered, ‘Yes, General.’ Grant then quickly said, 
‘Well, then lead.” I put spurs to my black horse and 
galloped off in another direction and they full tilt after 
me. 

‘‘After the battle I met a rebel captain whom we had 
captured and he said to me, ‘Colonel, I wish to ask you 
about a certain incident.. The other day I saw General 
Grant with General Meade and a party of which you were 
one riding into our lines. My men wanted to fire on you, 
but I said, ‘Hold on, they will ride in and we ean capture 
the whole lot.’ Then I saw you ride up and say something 
to Grant and then your whole party galloped off in haste. 
You were within forty rods of us and we hoped to get you 
all in the next five minutes..? 

‘‘No, Grant did not give me credit for this incident. He 
got the circumstances mixed and gave the credit to Com- 
stock in his memoirs. Never mind, I did not care to dis- 
pute about it. It was enough for me to know how the 
incident really happened. He did not write about it until 
twenty years later and during his last illness. 

‘“ At one time I was the commander of the Army of the 
Potomac. Every staff officer except myself was away from 
headquarters and all matters were left to me. There was 
no fighting yet. While I was stuck in my tent the rebels 
came over and made a raid on the cattle on the outposts. 
You see I made a poor General. 

‘Grant never cared much how he looked, but he did take 
eare of his hat while riding. If a twig hit it and made a 
dent he would take it off and smooth it out. I think 
General Grant was a little proud of his riding. He would 
gallop off to meet some officer and dashing up would sud- 


2. Related by Gen. Parker to Mr. J. F. Kelly, Mr. F. E. Parker and Mr. and 
Mrs. Frank Converse. 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 113 


denly rein his horse and dismount before the horse had 
stopped. 

‘“People seemed to have many queer recollections of 
Grant. I went with Grant on his tour after the war. I 
was often photographed with him. I remember a man 
coming up to me in a theatre. He said, ‘I remember Grant 
when he worked in a tanyard, he worked as a clerk in his 
father’s store.’ 

**General Grant was not a man who would stand pro- 
fanity. He did not curse and often rebuked those who 
did.’’ 

Mr. J. T. Lockwood of White Plains, New York, often 
observed Parker during the Wilderness campaign and 
relates the following story: _ 

““Tt was on May 30, 1864,’’ says Mr. Lockwood, ‘‘when 
I was with my battery, the 4th New York Artillery, at 
Mechanicsville near Richmond. We arrived there early 
in the morning and were at once ordered to stack arms. 
This we did, the place being the Shelton farm. 

“Orders were to grab a rail either from the fence or 
those piled in stacks, and to follow the officer on horse- 
back and to drop the rails in the horse’s tracks. This we 
did to outline the entrenchments. He simply galloped off 
in a straight line, made a turn or two and came back to 
the brick farmhouse. There was an orderly riding in his 
rear. The officer was Colonel Parker, whom we always 
called ‘the Indian.’ He -was on Grant’s staff and did 
much of the engineering work. When the Colonel returned 
I spoke to him for the first time, though I had often seen 
him. A strange battalion was only 500 yards in front of 
us and I asked a very natural question. 

** “Colonel,’ I said, ‘What corps is that over there?’ 

“““Those are the Johnnies,’ he replied. ‘Take your 
shovel and get as busy as they are. They are doing the 
same thing we are. Better get some dirt in front of you.’ 


114 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE I[kOQUOIS 


‘‘T was only a common soldier but when I saw the 
Johnnies as near as that I worked that shovel uncommonly 
fast. 

‘‘Our battery supported the 4th United States Artillery 
and we were generally very close to Grant’s headquarters. 
I had ample opportunity to observe Colonel Parker. 

‘“When we were commencing the entrenchments some of 
the officers entered the Shelton house and requested the 
ladies to vacate. One of them had a small boy. ‘We refuse 
to go,’ they said emphatically and with a certain gleam of 
haughty arrogance. Then Mrs. Shelton came to the door 
and said, ‘We shall not leave this house for my husband is 
in command of the troops over there and there is no danger 
of this house being fired upon.’ 

‘*Colonel Parker then said politely, ‘Stay as long as you 
please, ladies, we shall not harm you.’ Then turning to his 
officers, he roared, ‘Throw up a redoubt directly back of 
this house and plant a battery there!’ 

“It was a clever bit of strategy for that battery did 
unmerciful work and it was a long time before the rebels 
sent a shell in our direction. 

‘‘When Colonel Parker laid out breastworks or entrench- 
ments he always rode alone except perhaps with an orderly. 
Whenever we saw him laying out fortifications we knew 
there was to be a big fight. We also knew that there was 
an event ahead when he or Meade began riding over the 
field from one headquarters to another. 

‘We always supposed ‘the Indian’ was one of Grant’s 
chief engineers. Of course I didn’t know because I was 
only one of the rank, although we always stuck to Grant’s 
headquarters. ”’ 

The many records show that during the movements of 
the Army of the Potomac, while Grant was at City Point, 
Colonel Parker was exceedingly busy. This is especially 
true after his appointment on August 30th, as Military 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IkOQUOIS 115 


Secretary to Grant. As assistant Adjutant, however, he 
had his hands full and followed Grant very closely in all 
his moves.* 

Much of Grant’s correspondence was transcribed by 
Colonel Parker and during times of great pressure Grant 
entrusted the preparation of important letters, orders and 
reports to him, merely signing them with his name. 
Parker’s command of English and his handwriting as well 
as his intimate knowledge of the campaign, eminently fitted 
him for these important tasks. 

General Horace Porter in his book? writes of Colonel 
Parker’s activities and tells among other incidents an 
amusing tale. 

“**Colonel Parker, the Indian,’’ says General Porter, ‘‘had 
been diligently employed in these busy days helping take 
eare of General Grant’s correspondence. He wrote an 
excellent hand, and as one of the military secretaries often 
overhauled the General’s private correspondence and pre- 
pared answers to his private letters. This evening he was 
seated at the writing table in the General’s tent while his 
chief was standing at a little distance outside talking to 
some of his staff. A citizen who had come to City Point 
in the employ of the Sanitary Commission, and who had 
been in Cairo, when the General took command there in 
1861, approached the group and inquired, ‘Where is the 
old man’s tent? I’d like to get a look at him; haven’t 
seen him for three years.’ Rawlins to avoid being inter- 
rupted said, ‘That’s his tent,’ at the same time pointing 
to it. The man stepped over to the tent, looked in and 
saw the swarthy features of Parker as he sat in the Gen- 
eral’s chair. The visitor seemed a little puzzled, and as he 


3. Some of his correspondence as found in the archives of the War Depart- 
ment shows the character of his work and its responsibility. The letters show the 
matter-of-fact way in which disaster or death was reported. Some of the letters, 
as paragraph sketches oi the days of the last campaign are included in the 
appendix of this volume. 


4. “Campaigning with Grant,” page 207. 


116 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IkOQUOIS 


walked away was heard to remark: ‘Yes, that’s him; but 
he’s got all-fired sun-burnt since I last had a look at him.’ ’’ 

The General was greatly amused by the incident, and 
repeated the remark afterwards to Parker, who enjoyed it 
as much as the others. 

The order for Colonel Parker’s appointment came on 
August 30, 1864, and was announced by the War Depart- 
ment as below shown: 


War Dept., ADJT. GENERAL’S OFFICE. 


WASHINGTON, D. C., August 30, 1864. 
General Orders. 
No. 249. 


Capt. Ely S. Parker, assistant adjutant-general, U. S. Volunteers, 
is announced as private secretary on the staff of Lieutenant-General 
Grant, with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, vice W. R. Rowley 
resigned. 


By order of the Secretary of War. 
E. D. TOWNSEND, 
Assistant Adjutant-General. 


Colonel Parker from this time until long after the war 
ended was intimately associated with Grant and constantly 
at his side to receive and transmit his orders. His inti- 
mate knowledge of Grant’s desires and policies made it 
possible for him to offer many suggestions. The fighting 
about Petersburg and the naval operations on the James 
river drew the enemy closer to the headquarters of Grant 
at City Point, which had no heavy guns to defend it. This 
led Colonel Parker to seek to bring about the adequate 
protection of Grant’s immediate headquarters. Thus, Col. 
George H. Butler says, ‘‘It is suggested by Colonel Parker, 
of Grant’s staff, that the same be reported to you, that a 
request be made to have such disposition made of the gun- 
boats as will remedy the want of artillery here.”’ 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 117 


CHAPTER XI 
THE FALL OF THE CONFEDERACY 


During the years that followed the war Parker was often 
ealled upon to relate the incidents that came to his notice. 
To strangers and acquaintances he would uniformly reply, 
“Those who know nothing of war may like to hear of it in 
all its awful details, but to a man who has gone through 
it some visions are too shocking to recall. I had rather 
not discuss it with you.”’ 

It was only to the long-time friend that he would tell 
his war experiences, to his brother Nicholson or to an 
acquaintance who won his confidence and who could play 
billiards well. Parker was a great lover of the game and 
would seek to meet the best players wherever he went. 

In the old farmhouse back on the Cattaraugus belong- 
ing to his brother he would, when visiting there, sometimes 
tell a tale or two to his nephews, grand-nephews and nieces. 
He would tell some of these stories in his native language 
which he mostly talked when he ‘‘ went back home, to loosen 
up my tongue,’’ as he would say. Thus it is from the 
tales he told there, about the hearth of his brother’s home, 
for the recollections of his intimate friends and from the 
few papers that he left that we relate the story of Appo- 
mattox. 

No attempt is made to picture the entire scene, for that 
work belongs to the historian. Our task is merely to 
examine the fragments that Colonel Parker left in writ- 
ing or imprinted on the minds of his friends, and then to 
fit these fragments like a mosaic into the picture. If parts 
are missing it is because we cannot find them. And now 
we take up our task. Where we can quote exactly we shall 
do so. 


118 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


The moral support given by one’s countrymen counts 
much in giving a leader of men inspiration. Leaders often 
deport themselves upon occasions to draw the admiration 
of the men or people whose confidence they need in order 
to carry out their plans successfully, but this is a thing 
that Grant never did. Notwithstanding his successful 
campaigns Grant was not the idol of the North to the same 
degree that Lee was of the South. His very modesty, his 
simple manner and lack of demonstration caused many to 
think him dull and unappreciative. His dress was often 
disarranged and he preferred to take the labors given him 
like a soldier rather than to simulate the dignity of an 
officer. No one could deny, however, that Grant was a 
erimly determined leader, who from the beginning, had 
shown great capacity and resource. The months after the 
battle of Chattanooga had taxed every faculty and all 
through the severe trials that he underwent he exhibited 
great fortitude and skill. Indeed, his great tenacity during 
long seasons of disaster when his ranks were thinned by 
rebel shot, won the admiration of the country. He was the 
directing force of the army and planned many battles that 
his generals fought to success. Even Meade was constantly 
under his orders, though Meade commanded the Army of 
the Potomac. 

Meade manifested many of the unselfish qualities of his 
leader and would have resigned his commission for lower 
rank if Grant would have allowed it. But Grant knew 
Meade. He understood his generals and knew their 
capacity. He also knew most of the Confederate leaders 
and knew how to oppose each at his weakest point. His 
career at West Point had given him an insight into their 
character and habits that was invaluable. But with all this 
he was not the hero of his nation as Lee was of the seceding 
states. Lee’s fame was heralded all over the world and to 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 119 


the South he was the idol that it swore by. The North had 
yet to learn to swear by Grant. 

From his headquarters at City Point, Grant continued 
to direct the campaign against Richmond, and his uniform 
success combined with the desperation of the Southern 
army, which was in an almost famished condition, began 
to cause grave fears throughout the South. There were 
. many abortive plans to send spies into the Union lines to 
assassinate Grant and throw the army into disorder by 
removing its leader. 

The headquarters camp was directly on the edge of the 
bluff that overlooked the Appomattox river on the south 
side at its confluence with the James. Grant’s tent was 
simply arranged and his winter quarters were built of logs. 
He lived as simply as any of his officers and mingled freely 
with them. Rough benches were placed in a square about 
the front of Grant’s hut and a cheerful camp-fire was kept 
blazing. About this fire the officers clustered, and here 
Colonel Parker was to be found always ready with his pen 
and manifold to take down dispatches. It was here that 
Colonel Parker mingled closely with the leaders of the 
Federal forces, and met the civil officials who came from 
Washington. Even Lincoln himself came down for long 
visits during the winter of ’64 and ’65. Often he would 
sit near Colonel Badeau or Colonel Parker and eagerly 
read the dispatches as they came in. 

The entire military family of Grant shared a common 
table and both Grant and Lincoln dined together with the 
staff officers. Both Grant and Lincoln were absolutely 
frank and outspoken. They discussed with great freedom 
the dispatches that came in and the plans of the campaign, 
listening with courtesy to the suggestions or remarks of 
the officers of the staff. 

It was during his stay during the winter at City Point 
that Parker had opportunity to discuss Indian affairs with 


120 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IkOQUOIS 


both Grant and Lincoln. He outlined his plans for the 
betterment of conditions, condemned the treaty system and 
pleaded for the education of the young. Lincoln was most 
sympathetic, and said that he knew the red man had 
suffered awful injustice which he hoped the nation some 
day would requite. 

Grant’s men were absolutely loyal to him and were 
ereatly concerned with his welfare. During the winter 
months early in ’65 they often did sentinel duty outside 
his door in order to minister to his needs and guard against 
spies and assassins. 

Colonel Parker relates that there was a feeling that the 
rebels would attempt either to assassinate or kidnap Grant, 
as they had Crook and Kelly. Often, therefore, Parker 
watched outside the door of the hut with his revolver ready 
for any suspicious character. Colonel Badeau has written 
in a detailed way the story of the precautions taken by the 
staff. Nevertheless the Confederates had once smuggled 
a spy into the camp armed with a clock-work bomb which 
was placed on the ordnance boat in the river below Grant’s 
headquarters. 

The war had reached its crisis and every precaution was 
taken to prevent panic of any sort in the Union ranks. The 
two armies, almost within speaking distance of each other’s 
lines, faced in the last great struggle along the Appomattox. 
The closing days of March saw the beginning of the end. 
Sheridan had arrived from the South, Sherman came up 
the James from his quarters in North Carolina and Pres- 
ident Lincoln came down from Washington, as if to see 
for himself the close of the fratricidal struggle. The City 
Point Headquarters were the scene of ceaseless activity. 
Every plan was laid to catch Lee like a rat in a trap. 
Grant’s plan was to force Lee from his fortified position 
and then send Sheridan with his cavalry to hound his heels. 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE [kOQUOIS 121 


‘“*T mean to end this business here,’’ said Grant. And 
Fighting Phil smiled as he replied, ‘‘That’s what I like to 
hear you say, General. Let’s end this business here.”’ 

On the morning of March 29. Colonel Parker dispatched 
the following order to Gen Sheridan: 


HEADQUARTERS, ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES, 


Crry Pornt, Va., March 29, 1865. 
Special Orders 
No. 64 


Maj. Gen. P. H. Sheridan, commanding Middle Military Division, 
will order the detachment of Company D, Fifth U. S. Cavalry, now 
serving with him to report immediately to these headquarters, 
wherever they may be, in the field. 

By command of Lieutenant General U. S. Grant. 


E. S. PARKER, 
Acting Assistant Adjutant-General. 


Sheridan’s orders were to get at the enemy’s rear and 
“‘foree him out if possible. Should he come out and 
attack us,’’ wrote Grant, ‘‘or get himself where he can 
be attacked, move in with your entire force in your own 
way and with the full reliance that the army will engage or 
follow as circumstances will dictate. I shall be on the 
field and will probably be able to communicate with you.”’ 

Colonel Bowers was then advised of the situation and the 
location of the corps commanders: 


HEADQUARTERS. ARMY OF THE PoToMAC, 


March 29th, 1865. (Recd. 9: P. M.) 
Lieut. Col. T. S. Bowers: 


The two corps moved out, meeting with no serious opposition 
until quite late in the afternoon, when Griffin’s division, of Warren’s 
corps, struck the enemy and had quite a fight. Griffin captured about 
100 of the enemy. His loss not reported. Warren promptly brought 
up his whole corps, and upon advancing he found that the enemy 
had retired to his main works. Humphrey met with no opposition im 


122 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IKOQUOIS 


his advance. Warren’s left is across the plank road. Humphrey’s 
right is on Hatcher’s. Sheridan is at Dinwiddie and no enemy to 
oppose him, 
E. §. PARKER, 
Lieutenant-Colonel, ete. 


The Union forces now held without dispute the country 
from Appomattox to Dinwiddie Court-house. The heavy 
rains of the night, however, made traveling difficult. It 
did not dampen the ardor of the National army, though 
some minor plans were changed. Grant drew his generals 
into concert and then with a masterpiece of team play 
flung them at the Southern ranks. ‘‘We will all act 
together as one army until we can see what can be done 
with the enemy,’’ wrote Grant to Sheridan. 

On the 30th Sheridan was at Five Forks, a most 
important position. If Sheridan’s cavalry could hold it Lee 
would be forced to retreat from his position at Petersburg. 
Dispatches soon came in that Lee was holding the roads 
about Five Forks; and to inform General Rawlins, Parker 
dispatched the following note: 


HEADQUARTERS, ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES, 


March 30, 1865, 12:10 P. M. 
Brig. Gen. JoHN A. RAWLINS: 


GENERAL: A messenger just in from General Merritt says that 
the reconnaissance sent out from near Boisseau’s encountered the 
enemy in considerable force. They went to about two miles of the 
Five Forks, and found the enemy occupying the road. Those going 
north proceeded to about a mile of the White Oak road, and found 
the road also occupied by the enemy. Nearly all the forces met 
were cavalry. All the roads leading toward the White Oak Road are 
covered by the enemy. No engagement reported. 


E. S. PARKER, 
Acting Assistant Adjutant-General. 


The engagement at White Oak road came later. With 
the Union army pressing from every point Lee continued 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 123 


to resist as he retreated. Wright of the Sixth Corps and. 
Parker of the Ninth, on April 2d expressed their confidence 
of breaking through Lee’s lines. At daybreak with Ord 
they engaged the Confederates and carried Five Forks. 
Warren was ordered to advance following the cavalry and 
the Fifth Corps was to take a position at the enemy’s left. 
The battle was a terrific one, and the Union cavalry 
suffered heavily. Sheridan won out, however, capturing 
6,000 prisoners. Fitz-Hugh Lee and the brave Pickett 
were beaten. The good news was dispatched throughout 
the army. Petersburg had fallen! A letter to Meade from 
Parker tells of the vigilance and eagerness with which each 
move was regarded: 
GRANT’S HEADQUARTERS, 
April 2nd, 1865. 
Major-General MEADE: 
The following just received: 
*“ Brigadier-General RAWLINS: 


““General Sheridan desired m> to inform you that the Second 
Corps is marching up the Boydton road toward Petersburg, and that: 
Lee and his forces are moving iu this direction. We have come up 
to their rear guard, about two miles on the Claiborne road from their 
works in front of that road, probably; but few stragglers. 


P. T. Hupson, Aide-de-Camp, 11 A. M. 


“¢Miles has carried all the main work on the Claiborne road. We 
are following the enemy up that road. The enemy evacuated the 
works about 10 o’clock. Will send particulars as soon as heard. 

P. T. Hupson, Aide-de-Camp.’’ 


(Signed) E. 8. PARKER, 
Lieutenant-Colonel and Acting Assistant Adjutant General. 


Events followed fast upon one another and on the morn- 
ing of April 3d the Union Army entered Richmond and 
once again the starry banner floated over the rebel capitol. 
Bands played Yankee airs and the city rang with the shouts 


124 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE I[kOQUOIS 


of the successful army. ‘Then the city was brought to 
order by Grant and all plundering and rioting stopped. 

Grant now arranged his divisions to tighten about the 
Army of northern Virginia. Sheridan was in the advance, 
then came Meade with Wright and Humphreys, who had 
been detailed by the following command: 


HEADQUARTERS, ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES, 


SUTHERLAND’s STATION, April 3, 1865. 
Major-General HUMPHREYS, 
Commanding Second Corps: 


You will hereafter report to Major-General Meade, commanding 
Army of the Potomac, for orders. On the morrow, however, you will 
follow the route of march designated for you by General Sheridan. 


By Command of Lieutenant-General Grant. 


E. S. PARKER, 
Lieutenant-Colonel and Acting Assistant Adjutant-General. 


HEADQUARTERS, ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES, 
April 3rd, 1865. 
Major-General MEADE, 
Commanding Army of the Potomac: 

You will furnish to General Humphreys the rations called for 
‘by him at the earliest moment possible, in accordance with your sug- 
gestion of 9.15 this evening. Inclosed are orders for General Humph- 
feys to report to you hereafter, except that on to-morrow he will 
follow the route of march designated for him by General Sheridan. 


By Command of Lieutenant-General Grant. 


E. S. PARKER, 
Lieutenant-Colonel and Acting Assistant Adjutant-General. 


P. S.—Please forward to General Humphreys the order by one 


of your officers. 


The Southern Army, routed at Five Forks, Petersburg 
and Richmond, was fleeing with fifty thousand troops. Lee 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 13 


hoped to draw Grant after him and cause the Union Army 
to abandon its entrenched position and pursue from the 
rear. Grant, however, sent his army to the south side of 
the Appomattox to head off Lee and hem him from further 
advance. Lee’s hope was to unite with Johnson. But 
Sherman was pressing close and that brave leader, ordering 
the Fifth Corps to entrench across the railroad, cut off all 
supplies from Lee’s famished army. 

Grant was marching with his army and Colonel Parker 
followed his chief and saw the high spirits of the men who 
everywhere cheered the Commander-in-chief as he rode 
through the lines. The cordon was rapidly drawing about 
Lee and the men were enthused at the successful moves that 
moment by moment were putting the rebel army in sore 
straits. Finally there came a dispatch from Sheridan tell- 
ing of Lee’s distress at Amelia Court House. The next 
day Lee fled from Amelia and took up flight on the roads 
leading to the southwest. The Confederate soldiers were 
actually starved out and their horses famishing, the spring 
grass not yet being sufficient for forage. Blow after blow 
was delivered by the Union corps and each time a victory 
was won. Lee’s army was depleted fifty per cent. by the 
battles of the first seven days of March, and nearly a 
quarter of his troops had deserted. Lee held to the last 
hope but his officers pressed him to surrender. Further 
resistance only meant unnecessary bloodshed and needless 
suffering. That the power of the Army of Northern Vir- 
gimia was gone was seen only too clearly. Even the disci- 
pline of the troops was relaxed and the line straggled along 
in disconnected, discouraged groups; but when the Union 
bullets sang into their ranks they doggedly turned and 
blazed back as only desperate men can. 

Grant saw their pitiful plight on April 7th and dis- 
patched a letter from Farmville to Lee. The message was 
in these words: 


126 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE [kOQUOIS 


_ GENERAL:—The results of the last week must convince you of 
the hopelessness of further resistance on the part of the Army of 
Northern Virginia in this struggle. I feel that it is so, and regard it 
as my duty to shift from myself the responsibility of any further 
effusion of blood, by asking of you the surrender of that portion of 
the Confederate States’ army known as the Army of Northern 
Virginia. : 

U.S. Grant, Liewtenant-General. 
Lee in his reply denied that further resistance on his 
part was useless, but agreed that further bloodshed should 
be avoided if possible. Lee inquired for terms, but Grant 
did not allow this parley to interfere with his strategic 
movements, for no truce had been declared or sought. 

Sheridan pushed across the Appomattox, carrying his 
cavalry with the Army of the James and the Fifth Corps. 
Humphreys and Wright kept hammering at the fleeing 
Southern lines, but on the 9th of April halted at Appo- 
mattox Court House, where Lee displayed a white fiag. 
Custer in the previous day had captured the supply trains 
of the enemy and Sheridan was opposing the rebel front. 
Lee was in a desperate position and must have been in a 
disturbed mental state when he wrote Grant explaining his 
stand. ‘‘In mine of yesterday,’’ he wrote, ‘‘I did not 
intend to propose to surrender the Army of Northern Vir- 
ginia but to ask the terms of your proposition. To be 
frank, I do not think the emergency has arisen to eall for 
the surrender of this army. . . . I ean not therefore 
meet you with a view to surrender the Army of Northern 
Virginia. . . .’’ The day before he had asked the terms 
of surrender, but this was when he was pursued by Crooks 
and his baggage trains were burning in his rear. With 
the open country before him, as he thought, there was 
hope, and supplies ahead, for he did not know he was 
marching directly into Sheridan’s cavalry lines. 

Grant saw through the entire situation and ignoring 
Lee’s illogical stand simply wrote: ‘‘The terms upon 


| LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IkOQUOIS 127 


which peace can be had are well understood. By the South 
laying down their arms they will hasten that most desir- 
able event, save thousands of human lives and hundreds 
of millions of property not yet destroyed.”’ 

Grant then hastened to join Sheridan while Ord marched 
his men for twenty-one hours. Lee began attacking Sheri- 
dan, who moved back gradually giving Ord a chance to 
form his line and march forward to attack. Then the Union 
armies closed in on Lee. His broken but defiant army was 
completely hemmed in and at the mercy of the grimly 
determined Union forces. Then Sheridan seemed to give 
way and the rebel ranks gave their last battle yell as they 
rushed into the opening. Then a fresh infantry line 
burst upon them. The Southern lines broke. Sheridan 
swung to the left and drew up for a charge upon the dis- 
organized ranks before him. The men were ready, but the 
charge was never made. Lee sent forward a white flag and 
requested that hostile action cease, pending a conference 
with General Grant. Sheridan was suspicious and feared 
treachery, since Lee had previously declined to discuss 
terms. The truce seemed like a plan to refresh the rebel 
troops or await reinforcements. Sheridan rode over to 
the Court House where he found that negotiations for 
surrender were pending. 

Lee saw his position plainly. Sheridan with Ord and 
Griffin opposed his advance; Meade with Wright and 
Humphreys attacked his rear and there was no avenue for 
flight. Lee’s message to Grant was: ‘‘I received your note 
of this morning on the picket line whither I had come to 
meet you and ascertain definitely what terms were em- 
braced in your proposals of yesterday with reference to the 
surrender of the army. I now ask an interview in accord- 
ance with the ofier contained in your letter of yesterday, 
for that purpose.”’ 


128 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


Meanwhile, Lee sought to inform Meade of the proposal 
and to expedite matters allowed a Union officer to be 
escorted through the Confederate lines. Grant was with 
Sheridan and received Lee’s letter ten minutes before noon. 
He immediately wrote out his reply, agreeing to meet Lee 
and discuss the terms of surrender. Colonel Babcock 
hastened back with the reply, going through the rebel lines 
under escort by a Confederate officer. 

Grant had ‘‘made good.’’ ‘‘He was closing this business 
right here.’’ 

The jubilant officers forgot their fatigue, their travel and 
battle stains and galloped off to meet the Southern general 
who had eluded them so long. 


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LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 129 


CHAPTER XII 
THE INDIAN IN THE DRAMA AT APPOMATTOX 


General Lee had chosen the McLean farm-house, which 
stood on one side of a knoll that overlooked the valley 
where both armies lay stretched out for miles. Parker 
often spoke to his friends of that vision that stretched out: 
before him as he rode up to the McLean house with Grant 
and his staff. There was a word or two of explanation 
from Sheridan who still doubted Lee’s sincerity and then 
Grant approached the house. Lee came to the door and 
greeted Grant. Lee had with him his Military Secretary, 
Colonel Marshall; and with Grant were Bowers, Babcock 
and Parker. There followed the other officers of the Union 
forces, among whom were Sheridan, Ord and Porter; Meade 
was twenty miles away. 

In describing the room chosen for the interview General 
Parker said that most of the furnishings had been removed, 
such as pictures and bric-a-brac, although some brass 
candlesticks were on a small table. ‘‘There were two 
stands, a mantle-piece, a book-case and several chairs, per- 
haps five, of the old-fashioned hair-cloth style. On the 
long sofa sat General Porter; Colonel Badeau sat to his 
right, then Williams and General Rawlins, who occupied 
the right end. Grant sat at a small oval table and Lee took 
his seat at a square-topped stand. The rest of us sat, or 
stood where it was most convenient. We had no form about 
it. I went to one side because of the light. Not everyone 
could find seats. General Lee sat near the front window to 
the left and near Colonel Marshall, who was the only Con- 
federate besides Lee in the room. 


130 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


‘“Everyone removed his hat upon entering and Grant 
placed his upon the floor or perhaps the table. Lee was 
dressed in a splendid new uniform and wore a handsome 
saber. Marshall was dressed in a similar way. Colonel 
Marshall was a rather fine-looking gentleman with light 
hair. He wore spectacles, as also did General Lee. 

‘“Grant wore boots and had on a belted blouse, beneath 
an army coat. He wore no sword and apologized to Lee for 
not wearing it, as he was afraid he might think it a dis- 
courtesy. No, he did not lose his sword, but it had been 
mixed with the baggage and sent off. 

“‘Lee began talking about the Mexican War and other 
reminiscences. He seemed composed but was quite stiff in 
his dignity. Grant seemed relaxed but as he smoked he 
was thinking hard. Then Lee said he presumed that both 
he and Grant had carefully considered the terms suggested 
by Grant. Grant then looked at Lee and said, ‘Do I under- 
stand, General Lee, that you will accept the terms?’ Lee 
answered that he would if Grant would write them out for 
signing. But General Grant simply wrote a letter. There 
was no formal contract. 

“Grant then called for his manifold order-book, which I 
brought him, together with the oval table. The manifold 
book is about twice the size of a business letter sheet and 
has a sort of a stencil that will imprint about six copies at 
atime. The book was prepared for three copies.”’ 

General Porter in his book! describes the writing of the 
letter and says: ‘‘When he (Grant) had finished the letter 
he called Colonel Parker to his side and looked it over with 
him and directed him to interline several words.’’ 

‘‘The letter as written in the manifold book was handed 
by General Grant to Lee. Both half rose and leaned over 
their tables. Porter reached out for the book and passed it 


~ 


1. “Campaigning with Grant,’’ page 476. 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IfOQUOIS 131 


to Lee, who cleared his table and put on his spectacles to 
read the terms in the open book before him. 

**General Grant then said unless Lee had some further 
wish he would put the terms in ink and submit his final 
copy. Lee said that he would like to have a statement 
inserted allowing the horses and mules to be retained by 
the men, but Grant said he would not change his letter, but 
would grant this request by special order, because he 
thought the war was over and the men would need their 
animals for farming. Lee handed the book back to Grant. 

**General Grant then called over Colonel Bowers and told 
him to write out the terms in ink. Colonel Bowers, who 
was senior adjutant, took the book and came over. but was 
so nervous he could not write.” 

That historic moment, with all its lack of ostentation, 
was in reality quiet only because of its very tenseness. Men 
were outwardly calm, but inwardly greatly agitated. The 
nerves of the Anglo-Saxon tingled with suppressed emotion, 
but Parker, the red man, whose life’s discipline had steeled 
him for composure during times of crisis, was as calm 
inwardly as outwardly. Porter relates that Bowers took 
the book ‘‘and turned the matter over to Colonel Parker. 
whose handwriting presented a better appearance than that 
of anyone else on the staff. Parker sat down to write at 
the oval table which he had moved to the rear of the room.”’ 
There was no ink in the farm house, but ‘‘ Colonel Marshall 
now came to the rescue.” continues General Porter, ‘‘and 
took out a small boxwood inkstand which he placed at 
Parker’s service.’’ 

**Having finished it,’’ says General Parker, in telling his 
friend, Seulptor Kelly. of the transcription of the terms. 
“*T brought it to General Grant, who signed it, sealed it and 
then handed it to General Lee. When I made the copy in 
ink, I put the original in my pocket. I then came back 


132 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


here (pointing to a diagram of the room). The original, 
which I still have, reads as you see in this frame:”’ 


HEADQUARTERS, ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES, 


APPOMATTOX CouRT Housg, VA., April 9, ’65. 


General R. E. LEE, 
Commanding C. S. Army. 


GENERAL; In accordance with the substance of my letter to you 
of the 8th instant, I propose to receive the surrender of the Army of 
Northern Virginia on the following terms, to wit: Rolls of all the 
officers and men to be made in duplicate—one copy to be given to 
an officer to be designated by me, the other to be retained by such 
officer or officers as you may designate; the officers to give their 
individual paroles not to take up arms against the Government of 
the United States until properly exchanged, and each company or 
regimental commander to sign a like parole for the men of his com- 
mand. The arms, artillery, and public property are to be packed 
and stacked, and turned over to the officers appointed by me to receive 
them. This will not embrace the side-arms of the officers, nor their 
private horses or baggage. This done, officers and men will be 
allowed to return to their homes, not to be disturbed by United States 
authority so long as they observe their paroles and the laws in force 
where they may reside. 

Very respectfully, 


U. S. Grant, 
Lieutenant-General. 


‘*General Lee consulted with Colonel Marshall, who came 
over here,’’ said General Parker, referring again to his 
sketch, ‘‘and asked me if I had any paper without a printed 
heading. He had none as their baggage wagons had been 
burned. J had nothing but note-paper which I gave him. 
He wrote the note of reply.’’ 

‘“Was he standing?’’ asked his artist interviewer. 

““No, he sat by the table or piano with his elbow on it and 
wrote his reply and handed it to General Grant, who 
received it.’’ 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 133 


Lee’s reply of acceptance was short and pointed. It 
reads: 
HEADQUARTERS, ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA. 


April 9, 1865. 
GENERAL: I received your letter of this date containing the 
terms of surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, as proposed 
by you. As they are substantially the same as expressed in your 
letter of the 8th instant, they are accepted. I will proceed to desig- 
nate the proper officers to carry the stipulations into effect. 


R. E. LEE, General. 
Lieutenant-General U. S. GRANT. 


During the letter-writing and the time consumed by 
Marshall and Parker in copying the terms, General Grant 
introduced to Lee the officers of the Union Army who were 
in the room. Lee was especially cordial to Seth Williams, 
who had been an adjutant under Lee when he was the com- 
manding officer at West Point Academy. Lee greeted each 
staff officer and then being introduced to Colonel Parker, 
who was busy with his papers, he looked at him searchingly. 
Porter writes of this incident: ‘‘ Parker, being a full-blood 
Indian. when Lee saw his swarthy features, he looked at 
him with evident surprise, and his eyes rested upon him 
for several seconds. What was passing in his mind no one 
knew, but the natural surmise is that he first mistook 
Parker for a negro.”’ 

This remark also occurs in the Century Company’s War- 
book, but it is an inference that Parker indignantly denied. 
** After Lee had stared at me for a moment,’’ said Parker 
to more than one of his friends and relatives, ‘‘he extended 
his hand and said, ‘I am glad to see one real American 
here.’ I shook his hand and said, ‘ We are all Americans.’ ”’ 

This brief conversation occurred in the rear of the room 
and as Lee had his back to the rest in the room except 
Marshall, no one of the several eye-witnesses of the surren- 


134 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


der who wrote of the incidents seemed to have noted it. This 
personal version of the incident was heard by the writer of 
this sketch and was related several times to Mrs. Harriet 
Maxwell Converse, who in the years after the war was an 
intimate friend of Parker’s. The writer has recorded the 
story also from the lips of Mr. Kelly, who copied many of 
his interviews with General Parker immediately after they 
happened. We thus seek to make the record straight. 

After the conversation and introductions, each General 
signed his letter. Grant used the oval table, which Parker 
again carried over to him. Then Parker handed the 
transcribed copy to Colonel Marshall, who in turn handed 
Lee’s acceptance to Parker. Most of the officers then wert 
out of the room, but Parker remained at the oval table and 
wrote out the directions for carrying into effect the final 
terms. This he did in his own words, being familiar with 
Grant’s wishes. These messages. so significant in import- 
anee, are entirely in Parker’s handwriting, and indeed 
signed by him. They are reproduced below: 


(Special Orders) 


HEADQUARTERS, ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES, 


IN THE FIELD, April 9, 1865. 


Major Gen. John Gibbon, Bvt. Maj. Gen. Charles Griffin, and 
Bvt. Maj. Gen. Wesley Merritt are hereby designated to carry into 
effect the stipulations this day entered into between General R. E. 
Lee, commanding C. S. Armies, and Lieutenant-General Grant, com- 
manding Armies of the United States, in which General Lee surrenders 
to General Grant the Army of Northern Virginia. 

Bvt. Brig. Gen. George H. Sharpe, assistant provost-marshal- 
general, will receive and take charge of the rolls called for by the 
above-mentioned stipulations. 


By command of Lieutenant-General Grant. 


E S. PARKER, 
Lieutenant-Colonel and Acting Assistant Adjutant-General. 


: LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 135 


HEADQUARTERS, ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES, 


APPOMATTOX CouRT House, April 9, 1865. 
General MEADE: 

GENERAL: The Fifth Corps of the Army of the Potomac and 
‘the Twenty-fourth Corps of the Army of the James will remain here 
until the stipulations of the surrender of the C. S. Army, known as 
the Army of Northern Virginia, entered into by General R. E. Lee 
and the lieutenant-general commanding, have been carried into effect, 
and the captured and surrendered publie property has been secured. 
All the other forces will be moved back to Burkeville, starting to- 
morrow where they will go into camp. The chief ordnance officer of 
the Army of the Potomae will collect and take charge of all captured 
and surrendered ordnance and ordnance stores and remove them to 
Burkeville. The acting chief quartermaster of the Army of the 
James will collect and take charge of all the captured and surrendered 
quartermaster’s property and stores and remove them to Burkeville. 
You will please give such orders to your troops and officers of the 
staff departments as will secure the execution of the foregoing 
instructions. The troops going to Burkeville will turn over to those 
remaining here all the subsistance stores—they may have a bare 
sufficiency to take them back. 


By command of Lieutenant-General Grant. 


E. S. PARKER, 
Acting Assistant Adjutant-General. 


During the entire proceedings Grant had smoked a cigar 
which he half chewed. This fact was strongly impressed 
upon Parker, for in looking over Kelly’s picture sketched 
for Bryant’s history he said as he smiled, ‘‘If you want to 
make the thing historically correct, though I don’t know 
that it will improve it, you will have to show Grant with a 
cigar in his mouth.’’ Mr. Kelly adds in his notes, ‘‘I put 
the suggestion in the finished picture.’’ In later years 
Parker told in a series of recollections, published in 
McClure’s Magazine, how Grant once lost his cigar because 
of his own strict orders. His story is: 


136 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE TROQUOIS 


‘* All military men know that orders emanating from 
proper authority must be obeyed and executed without 
question, and that officers and men entrusted with them 
must obey and execute them irrespective of the station or 
rank of the person or persons they may affect. President 
Lincoln once experienced the rigidity of military orders, 
when, late in the fall of 1864, he attempted to enter General 
Grant’s Headquarters camp at City Point, Virginia, by 
crossing the sentinel’s lines. He was promptly halted by 
the sentinel and informed where the entrance to the camp 
was. He told the sentinel who he was, and explained his 
right to pass anywhere within the lines of the army. The 
sentinel was inexorable, simply replying that he might be 
all he claimed to be, but that the orders were positive not 
to let any one pass his line. and he would not. Lincoln was 
perforce compelled to go a little farther, and enter the camp 
at the proper entrance. 

‘* About the same time General Grant had an experience 
not similar, but which was another example of the infiexi- 
bility of military orders. After lunch one day, he asked 
me to accompany him in a walk along the Quartermaster’s 
wharves. Accordingly, lighting our cigars, we descended 
the stairs to the Appomattox river, the foot of the stairs 
being about three hundred feet from the head of the wharf, 
on the James river. We walked leisurely to the wharf, 
enjoying our cigars. We had not gone far on the wharf 
when a sentinel halted us, saying: ‘Gentlemen, it is against 
orders to smoke on the wharf.’ Nothing more was said, 
but our cigars went into the river. A few moments later 
the General remarked: ‘I am sorry to lose my smoke, but 
the order is right.’ I can not say whether or not the guard 
knew the General, but he knew his duty, and doubtless 
would have arrested us had we disobeyed him. 

‘‘Smoking seemed to be a necessity to General Grant’s 
organism, rather than a luxury. With him it antagonized 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE I£OQUOIS 137 


nervousness, and evidently was an aid to thought; for I 
often noticed that he smoked the hardest when in deep 
thought, or engaged in writing an important document. 
After the terrible battles about Spottsylvania in 1864, and 
when the second flank movement toward Richmond was in 
process of execution, he asked for paper on which to write 
a report to Washington of the battles, and of his future 
plans. As I sat only a few feet from him I noticed that he 
was smoking very hard, at times completely enveloping his 
face in the smoke. Finally, blowing it all away from him, 
he wrote his dispatch, in which occurs the epigrammatic 
phrase, ‘I will fight it out on this line if it takes all 
summer ’—a phrase that infused new life and confidence 
into the Northern mind. He smoked in the same manner 
when, near Appomattox, he received General Lee’s last note 
asking for a meeting with a view to surrender; and again 
when sittmg with Lee in McLean’s parlor arranging the 
terms of surrender. 

**Before Lee left the McLean house he asked one more 
favor. His men were suffering from lack of food and if 
possible he wished Grant to issue rations to them. 

“* “General Grant.’ said Lee, ‘I want to ask you some- 
thing. If our positions were reversed I would grant it to 
you. My men are starving and I wish to ask if you will 
give them rations.’ 

““ “How many men have you got?’ asked Grant. 

** * About twenty-five thousand,’ answered Lee. 

“* “General Grant came over to me and said, [and here 
Parker smiled, interpolates Mr. Kelly] ‘I guess you had 
better make out an order for thirty thousand.’ He knew, 
and did not propose to have any one suffer.’’ 

At nine o’clock on the morning of April 10th Grant and 
his staff rode out and took their station on a knoll over- 
looking both armies. It was attempted to pass through the 
Confederate lines, but the pickets had not been instructed 


138 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IkOQUOIS 


to permit the entry of the Union officers. Notice, however, 
was sent to Lee who at once rode forward and greeted 
Grant, when both raised their hats. The subordinate 
officers gave similar salutes and grouped themselves about 
their commanders. 

Parker came with his leather portfolio slung over his 
shoulder, ready for taking notes; and then, he tells us, ‘‘I 
used to carry a little wooden ink-bottle with a screw top 
and when IJ would write I would tie it to my button-hole. 
I always carried my portfolio slung over my shoulder.’’ 
In describing the incidents of the morning of April 10th, 
General Parker told his artist friend, Mr. Kelly, that he 
was much impressed by the picturesqueness of the scene. 

‘‘There is one scene that would make a good picture,’’ he 
said. ‘‘The affairs at the McLean house were the pre- 
Jiminaries of the surrender. The next day General Grant 
and his staff went down here,’’ and he drew the diagram 
of a stream. ‘‘General Lee came down this way’’—draw- 
ing another line and making a dot opposite Grant. ‘‘They 
sat on their horses and discussed the final terms of the 
surrender, while the officers of General Lee mingled with 
ours who instinctively drew back and formed a half cirele 
in the rear of Generals Grant and Lee. General Grant sat 
here’’—making a dot; ‘‘General Lee sat here. As they 
would come to a decision on any point I would write it 
down.”’ 

“‘Did they have any writing or signing there?’’ asked 
the artist. 

“‘No, I would write it down, and sign it by order of 
General Grant. I was over here’’—pointing to a dot at the 
right of Grant. ‘‘There was an old stump and I would 
stoop over it while I wrote. 

‘“‘T remarked at the time to a couple of rebel officers that 
it was a pity an artist was not here to make a picture of 
the scene. Looking from here’’—indicating the sun coming 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 139 


from the left and rear of General Grant—‘‘the sun came 
from behind them and made a very pretty sight.’’ 

“* As he started to make this diagram,’’ records the artist, 

“‘T asked him to make it in my book, but he said, ‘No, I 
will make it here,’ and he made a diagram of the scene on 
his writing-pad. I then, on the margin of his pad, made the 
composition which he said was correct. Pointing to the 
group of officers in the rear of the Generals I asked him if 
he would name the officers who were in the crowd. 
» *** All of our principal officers, and a great many of the 
Confederates,’ he answered. Looking at my sketch he said, 
“That is a first-rate scene. I think it would make a good 
picture. It would make a better picture than the interior 
of the house.’ I said, ‘I think I will get the editor to use 
this picture instead,’ but Parker said, ‘No, that scene is 
more interesting historically, while this is only the culmin- 
ation of the agreements that were entered upon the day 
before ; it was only finishing up the business, as it were.’ To 
which I added, ‘Filing up the casting.’ ‘Yes, that is so,” 
he acceded.’’ 

During the conference of Grant and Lee, Parker wrote 
out the orders for the parole of the officers and men in Lee’s. 
army. It was glad news for the Confederates, who at first 
feared harsh terms. The magnanimity of Grant at first 
surprised them; then it overwhelmed them with gratitude 
and they gladly signed their paroles, not one refusmg. The 
order as posted, read as follows: 


Special Orders, 
No. 73. 


HEADQUARTERS, ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES, 
IN THE Frexp, April 10, 1865. 


I—All officers and men of the Confederate service paroled at 
Appomattox Court House, Va., who, to reach their homes, are com- 
pelled to pass through the lines of the Union armies, will be allowed 


240 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


to do so, and to pass free on all Government transports and military 
railroads. 


II.—Bvt. Gen. R. H. Jackson, U. S. Volunteers, is hereby 


-assigned to duty according to his brevet rank, by authority of the 
‘Secretary of War. 


By command of Lieutenant-General Grant. 


E. S. PARKER, 
Lieutenant-Colonel and Acting Assistant Adjutant-General. 


It was then echoed through the Confederate lines in the 
form given below: 


Special Orders, 


HEADQUARTERS, ARMY OF NORTHERN VA. 
April 10, 1865. 
The .following order is published for the information of alk 
parties concerned: 


Special Orders, 


HEADQUARTERS, ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES, 


IN THE FieLtp, April 10, 1865. 


All officers and men of the Confederate service paroled at Appo- 
smattox Court House who, to reach their homes are compelled to pass 
‘through the lines of the Union Armies, will be allowed to do so, and 
to pass free on all Government transports and military railroads. 


By command of Lieutenant-General Grant: 


E, S. PARKER, 
Lieutenant-Colonel and Assistant Adjutant-General. 


By command of General R. E. Lee, 
C. S. VENABLE, 
Assistant Adjutant-General. 


Thus the Indian whose enlistment had been refused 
‘because the war was ‘‘a white man’s war,’’ after all was 
¢alled upon for service. Thus it happened that the words 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 14] 


of Secretary Seward came back, ‘‘It is an affair in which 
the Indian is not called to act. The fight must be settled 
by the white men alone. Go home, cultivate your farm and 
we will settle our own troubles without any Indian aid!’’ 

And yet the Iroquois Indians alone sent three hundred 
of the flower of their race to battle in this white man’s war. 
They gave men whom the army records show, ‘‘for stature, 
physical fitness and endurance had no equal in the entire 
army.’’ The Iroquois Indians gave two army surgeons to 
the Union cause, and provided the military engineer, the 
adjutant-general, the military secretary whose record we 
have related. Thus, after all, it must be said that it was 
in the handwriting of an Iroquois sachem, and an Indian 
that the two warring factions of the white race were finally 
united. And as a reward for his services, he was declared 
eompetent, even though an Indian, to become a citizen and 
a voter. 


142 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


CHAPTER XIII 


THE WARRIOR AFTER THE WAR 


Colonel Parker followed Grant back to Washington, 
where he continued his office as Military Secretary. No 
sooner had he taken his desk at headquarters than he 
was presented with a document which conferred upon him 
the brevet title, Brigadier-General of United States Volun- 
teers, ‘‘for gallant and meritorious services during the cam- 
paign terminating with the surrender of the insurgent 
army under General Robert E. Lee.’’ The document was. 
dated April 9, 1865, the day Lee surrendered. 

The labor of administering the affairs of the army after 
Grant’s return to Washington was an arduous one. The war 
was not entirely over. Johnson had not finally surrendered, 
but when cornered by Sherman began adroitly to dicker for 
terms. Then came the assassination of Abraham Lincoln 
and the grief of a nation. General Parker was a great 
admirer of Lincoln, whom he knew, and his grief was deep 
and sincere. 

General Parker, and indeed the entire staff, were alarmed 
lest Grant also be murdered. and redoubled the vigilance 
with which they had watched his safety. Grant only 
escaped the aim of the coward by his absence from Wash- 
ington. It was fully expected that he would be at a box at 
Ford’s Theatre but his fatherly heart, lonely for his chil- 
dren, caused him to change his plans and he had taken the 
train for Burlington, N. J., where his children were at 
school. He returned immediately, and controlling his sor- 
row he left for the South to adjust the difficulties into 
which Sherman had fallen in treating with Johnson. These 
were busy days for General Parker. From that time on 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 143 


he labored at the War Department, resigning April 26, 
1869. 

On July 1, 1866, he was honorably mustered out of the 
volunteer service and was appointed as Second Lieutenant 
of U. S. Cavalry. On June 1, 1867, he was promoted to 
First Lieutenant. Then in the service of the regular U. S. 
Army, he received the brevets of Captain, Major, Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel, Colonel; and on March 2, 1867, the brevet 
Brigadier-General, U. S. Army, ‘‘for gallant and meri- 
torious service during the war.’’ 

He had faced the rebel minie-ball, the cannon shot, 
grape and canister, saber and bayonet at Vicksburg, at 
Lookout Mountain, at Missionary Ridge, about Chat- 
tanooga, at Ringgold, Georgia, in the Wilderness, at Spott- 
sylvania, at Cold Harbor, and in all the battles and opera- 
tions about Petersburg and Richmond in ’64-’65, and in 
the campaigns that terminated at Appomattox. The target 
of many a bullet as he rode his great black horse, slashed 
at by rebel saber, and the mark of bursting shells, he 
never received a wound that left more than a harmless 
mark. His prediction was fulfilled. As he wrote to his 
brother, he did not believe that he was to be killed in the 
war. 

General Parker accompanied General Grant and the staff 
‘during the tour of the great leader after the war. Many 
of the photographs taken at the time show him at Grant’s 
side. General Parker, Colonels Bowers and Babcock, 
watched Grant with the eyes of hawks lest some harm 
befall him. It was feared that some crank might yet send 
a bullet into him even as was done to Lincoln. Captain 
Beckwith in his address at the grave of General Parker in 
Buffalo ! alludes to the care with which Grant was guarded. 

General Parker left one or two stories of his tour with 
Grant, among them the following: 


1. See Publications, Buffalo Historical Soe.: Vol. VIII, p. 515. 


144 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


‘‘TIn 1865, as Grant was returning from a visit to West 
Point, New York, accompanied by his Assistant Adjutant 
General, Colonel Bowers—a man greatly beloved by all who 
knew him—was killed at Garrison’s Station by the ears. 
The next morning the staff found General Grant at Army 
Headquarters on Seventeenth Street, Washington. He 
looked haggard and nearly distracted with grief at the loss 
of a favorite officer. He said to ‘the staff: ‘Gentlemen, 
Colonel Bowers was accidentally killed at Garrison’s yes- 
terday. I wish as many of you as can to go to the funeral. 
I can not go. The loss has come very near to me.’ To us 
this determination did not seem strange. We knew how 
gevotedly he was attached to Colonel Bowers, who had been 
on his staff since the battle of Shiloh, and we knew, besides, 
how very fatigued he must be, having traveled all night to 
reach Washington. Nearly all the staff decided to go to 
the funeral and left Headquarters to make the necessary 
preparations, agreeing to meet again in the railroad station. 
What was their surprise, on coming to the station, to find 
General Grant there, and to learn that he also was going 
back to the funeral.’’ 

Long before the war the administration of Indian affairs 
had been a serious problem to honest citizens and legis- 
lators. The entire system was corrupt, Indians not only 
were massacred upon the slightest provocation, but even 
when peaceful they were encroached upon and robbed. 
There was a powerfully entrenched machine back of this 
system of murder and robbery. Each thief had his 
lobbyist. 

General Parker kept up his interest in his own people 
and several years before the war, in 1859, had been success- 
ful in saving the Tonawanda Senecas their home land. The 
tract of country set’ aside for them in Kansas was sold and 
he had arranged that the proceeds be used for the purchase 
of the Tonawanda Reservation, and that the nation as a cor- 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 145 


poration hold it by deed of purchase. In this manner the 
Tonawandas bought back their domain and today hold it 
more securely than any corporation of citizens holds its 
property. In 1867 General Parker, to still further protect 
his nation, drafted ‘‘an Act for the protection and improve- 
ment of the Tonawanda band of Seneca Indians residing on 
the Tonawanda Reservation in this State.’’ Afterward he 
drew up the national laws of the tribal council and made 
his people secure in their happiness. 

In financial affairs he was likewise successful and soon 
had a comfortable fortune. He had never cared especially 
for wealth, but as he moved about in the circles of Washing- 
ton society he met a lady who all unknowingly led him to 
seek to increase his fortunes. 

During the fall of 1867 Washington society received the 
announcement of the engagement of Miss Minnie Sackett, 
to General Parker. Later the wedding invitations an- 
nounced the ceremony on December 17th. The élite of the 
nation’s capitol were invited, for General Grant had been 
chosen to give the bride away. The church was filled with 
guests and fiowers, but no groom appeared. 

Printed accounts say that a few days later General 
Parker appeared. He never made any public explanation 
of his conduct but his private apology to his fiancée was 
apparently successful for the date was set ahead to Christ- 
mas. It was expected that the wedding would take place 
at the Church of the Epiphany. Thither flocked the invited 
guests and the rank and fashion of Washington were once 
more met with closed doors and all absence of preparation. 
In the meantime the bride and groom had skipped off to 
“‘a little church around the corner’’ and had been privately 
joined in wedlock. It is probable that the fuss and feathers 
of a ‘‘civilized marriage ceremony’’ had proven too much 
for the simple nature of the red man; so reads the account 
as the public knows it. 


146 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


The real fact, which has never been related, is that one 
of his friends was his rival. On the day of December 17, 
1867, General Parker was drugged in hopes that it would 
not only spoil the wedding, but’ change the mind of the 
bride. Then later came a more sinister threat neatly veiled. 
No one knows what might have happened if there had been 
a wedding at the Church of the Epiphany. Washington 
society might have had more sensational topies to discuss. 
No one now knows the exact story of the cireumstances 
attending the marriage. Suffice it to know that they nar- 
rowly bordered on a tragedy. But then, many a tale of 
love and war brings into view many things that appear 
abnormal and strange when viewed in ordinary lights. 

The routine of office work following the reduction of the 
army, kept General Parker busily engaged. His knowledge 
of Indian affairs was constantly increasing through the 
various visits which he made in the West in behalf of the 
Government. He often met and discussed Indian affairs 
with western Indian delegates and did his utmost to assist 
them to obtain justice. More and more he felt that their 
outbreaks against the settlers in the West were due to a 
lack of care and understanding in dealing with them. 

Several grand councils were held in Indian Territory in 
which General Parker addressed the assembled representa- 
tives of the various tribes. Nor have the older Indians 
entirely forgotten these meetings with the Government 
commissioners. ! 

During January, 1913, the writer, together with Pro- 
fessor M. Raymond Harrington of the University of Penn- 
sylvania Museum, met at the home of Comanche Jack for 
a council. Our plan was to stimulate the interest of the 
chief in the Society of American Indians and to explain the 
plans of the organization for the uplift of the race. The 
writer made a lengthy speech to the dozen of men present 
and listened as it was interpreted. Comanche Jack made 


‘IOYIVY [BAOUOY) OF OFVITIVUI Toy JO OUT} oY} YW ‘OPVITIVUL SIY JO OUIIy OY} YW 


DLAMOVS GINNIN YATUVd S$ ATH TWYHNAD 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 147 


a splendid reply, giving his reasons for believing that the 
Indian should now know how to walk over the white man’s 
road. Then a surprise was sprung. Old Cabeyo, the medi- 
‘cine man, arose, and looking at the writer as he sat on a 
roll of blankets on the floor said: ‘‘See how black his hair. 
He is an Indian. What he says is true. I heard those 
statements nearly fifty years ago at a big council. There 
were several white men who were commissioners and one 
Indian. He spoke. He said: ‘In the East are Indians who 
live like white men. They have houses and barns, they 
‘send their children to school. Some day one of them will 
come and tell you what you must do to save your people 
from destruction.’ For many years I have wondered if 
that man would come. What you have told us is true. This 
day have my eyes seen him. You are that man.’’ And 
Old Cabeyo the Comanche pointed his finger, his arm 
extended at full length. 

This plan of General Parker’s, of meeting the Indians 
half way, did much to suggest the ‘‘Peace Policy”’ later 
inaugurated by President Grant. It had been in Parker’s 
mind for many years. 

During Grant’s busy campaign in 1868 for the Presi- 
‘deney both Parker and Rawlins were kept busy furnishing 
information and answering the numerous letters that came 
in. Parker was an ardent Grant man as were all who knew 
the great military leader. A letter written by General 
Parker to his brother’s children explains in his own words 
his life during this period: 


HEADQUARTERS. ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
WASHINGTON, D. C., Oct. Ist, 1868. 


To My Nephews Freddie, Frankie, Albert and My Niece Minnie. 
DrEAar CHILDREN:—It is a long time ago since I received from 
each of you, nice little letters, transmitted by your kind teacher 
Miss Clark. I have been a great bear for not answering you sooner, 
and I hope you will tell me so the next time we meet, should it please 


148 LAST GRAND. SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


Providence to grant us that privilege. Your letters were very nice 
indeed, they pleased me much and gave me oceular proof of the 
progress you have all made in your studies. I hope that you have 
improved much since you wrote to me, and that you have always 
been good, kind and obedient to your teacher and to your parents as 
well as to your estimable uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. Wright. 

I am very busy looking after and attending to the interests of 
the great army of the United States, as well as the interests and 
wants of her citizens generally and that I suppose is the main reason 
why my little people are neglected. Yet I have thought of you often. 

Congress was in session until July and it kept myself and others 
very busy in answering and attending to all their questions and 
demands for information. Then General Grant went away to the 
Rocky Mountains early in July and nearly all his officers left the 
city soon after, leaving only myself and General Rawlins, the Chief 
of Staff, at these headquarters to do all the work and represent 
General Grant, and. this I can tell you is no easy work to do. The 
work was too much for General Rawlins and he was taken sick. Last 
Monday he left the city to be gone perhaps a year. This has left 
me almost alone for besides the Assistant Adjutant General there is 
only one officer here to keep me company. 

General Grant you know is the Republican candidate for Pres- 
ident, of the United States, in opposition to Seymour of your State, 
and this fact has made my work a great deal heavier, as we are 
compelled to see and talk with politicians from every part of the 
country. I want to see Grant elected, because I think he is the best 
patriot and that he only can bring peace to the country. He is a 
very. nice man indeed. He is a great general and has a good heart. 
He loves his country and greatly desires to see it enjoy the blessings 
of peace and prosperity. He has a very pleasant family. He is 
father of four children. The oldest is named Freddie, he is now at 
West Point Military Academy studying to become a soldier. The 
next is named Ulysses S., after his father, but he is generally called 
‘*Buckie’’ or ‘‘Buck,’’ because he was born in Ohio, the Buckeye 
State of the Union. The next child is a daughter named Nellie—she 
is about 12 years old and is a very sweet, pretty and smart girl. The 
youngest child is a boy, named Jesse, and he is very smart and 
bright. He owns a pair of Shetland ponies not quite as large as 
some Newfoundland dogs I have seen, and with these he drives about 
our streets in his little buggy, which his father had made for them, 
or he rides pony-back. They go very fast and can really worry a 
large horse in point of speed. You may also recollect my ponies, that 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 149 


your Pa kept for me. I have them yet and they are very beautiful 
and very fast. I enjoy driving them very much. I shall probably 
go North in two or three weeks with your aunt Minnie, but I don’t 
know as I shall have time to come and see you. I shall be at Aunt 
Carrie’s only a day. I cannot be gone long from here, and that is 
the reason I cannot promise to see you. Give my love to your Pa 
and Ma. Your Aunt Minnie sends love to all. She has gone to 
Baltimore today and left me alone. 
From your 


UNCLE ELy. 


150 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IkOQUOIS 


CHAPTER XIV 
AN INDIAN COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS 


After General Grant was inaugurated as President of 
the United States one of his first appointments was that of 
General Parker to the office of Commissioner of Indian 
Affairs. 

General Parker entered upon his new task with a strong 
determination to lift the people of his race from their 
unhappy condition. Two ideas controlled his policy. The 
first was to make the Indian himself see his duty in becom- 
ing a useful and constructive member of society, to make 
him economically independent, contributing his share to 
the sum total of human welfare. The second idea was to 
impress the various departments of the Government with 
the idea that the people of the United States owed the 
Indians a clean administration of their affairs, and not 
only that, but that they must take upon themselves the 
burden of rescuing the Indian from the unhappy state into 
which he had been thrust and of lifting him up into an 
understanding of civilization and Christianity. 

He knew how the old Indian looked upon eivilization 
and the church. Civilization to the Indian had meant 2 
conflict with a thousand evils that were only elementary in 
his original state. It meant an abandonment of many of 
his old ideals and a crushing out of native virtues. It 
meant an entirely different economic life. Frequently it 
meant the entire destruction of the tribe through disease 
and rum. 

Two great departures occurred in the administration of 
Indian affairs, when General Parker was appointed. One 
was the creation of the Board of Indian Commissioners 
and the other the institution of the ‘‘Peace Policy.’’ A new 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 151 


day had dawned for the Indian and for the first time the 
Government began its duty to save and uplift at all cost, the 
people whom its citizens had robbed and debauched. The 
Board of Indian Commissioners was a body of highly con- 
scientious men, some of them almost supersensitive. 

The whole ‘‘bureau system’’ was graft-ridden. The 
goods placed in Government warehouses for Indians were 
stolen or replaced with inferior material. Contractors who 
had no conscience were continually foisting upon the Gov- 
ernment worthless cloth and food. Cattle-dealers who were 
paid for delivering ‘‘beef on foot’’ reaped a rich harvest 
of gold. One of the schemes which they successfully 
worked was to drive their consignment of cows onto a 
reservation, get the agent’s receipt, wait until the beef had 
been distributed to the Indians and then either steal, or 
buy them back for a trinket or a few pennies—twenty-five 
cents in most cases; then drive them on to the next agency 
and deliver them there; only to repeat the operation. Men 
like this had money to defend themselves with and were 
seldom caught. The need of a competent board of citizens 
to watch these scoundrels and to check up the warehouses 
was imperative. 

To fulfill this need President Grant appointed the Board 
of Indian Commissioners whose duty should be to bring the 
public, the Indian and the Government into close terms of 
accord and sympathy. General Parker felt that this board 
would be of great service and he at once sought its co-opera- 
tion. The first letter of instruction from the Indian 
Bureau to the Board was written by Commissioner Parker 
and is reproduced below: 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, 
OFFICE OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, 
WASHINGTON, May 26, 1869. 
To the BoArp OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS. 


GENTLEMEN:—You have been solicited by the President, under 
the provision of the fourth section of the act of Congress, approved 


152 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IkLOQUOIS 


April 10, 1869, entitled ‘‘An act making appropriation for the cur- 
rent and contingent expenses of the Indian Department,’’ ete., for 
the year ending June 30, 1870, for the purpose of enabling the 
President to exercise the power conferred by said act. And I being 
authorized by the same act to exercise, under the direction of tke 
President, joint control with the Secretary of the Interior over the 
disbursement of the appropriations made by said act, or any part 
thereof that the president may designate (and you having been ¢con- 
vened in the city for the purpose of organizing for the execution of 
your duties), and believing that, in common with the President and 
other officers of the government, you desire the humanization, civili- 
zation and Christianization of the Indians, I very respectfully, after 
consultation with the honorable Secretary of the Interior, submit the 
following questions, which with a view of proper and intelligent 
action in the future relation of the government with the Indians, I 
deem it important should receive your early consideration and sug- 
gestion, viz.: A determination or settlement of what should bo 
the legal status of the Indians; a definition of their rights 
and obligations under the laws of the United States, of the States 
and Territories and treaty stipulations; whether any more treaties 
shall be stipulated with the Indians, and if not, what legislation is 
necessary for those with whom there are existing stipulations, and 
what for those whith whom no such stipulations exist; should the 
Indians be placed upon reservations, and if so what is the best method 
to accomplish this object; should not legislation discriminate between 
the civilized and localized Indians and the roving tribes of the plains 
and mountains; what changes are necessary in existing laws relating 
to purchasing goods and provisions for the Indians, in order to 
prevent fraud, ete.; should any change be made in the method of 
paying the money annuities and if so what? Great mischief, evils, 
and frequently serious results follow from friendly Indians leaving 
the reservations, producing conflicts between the citizens, soldiers 
and Indians. At what time and point shall the civil rule begin and 
the military end? Is any change required in the intercourse laws 
by reason of the present changed condition of the country? TI 
respectfully suggest that inspection should be made by ‘your com- 
mission of as many Indian tribes, especially the wild and roving 
ones, as the time of the honorable commissioners will permit, and 
their conditions and wants be reported on, with any suggestion 
that each case may seem to require. Also, the accounts of superin- 
tendents and agents should be examined, and the efficiency or ineffi- 
ciency of those officers should be reported upon. All suggestions, 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 153 


recommendations and reports from the commission should be made 
to the honorable Secretary of the Interior, to be by him submitted, 
when necessary, to the President and Congress. 


Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 


E. S. PARKER, 
Commissioner. 


It will be noted that General Parker at the very begin- 
ning of his administration saw the vital need of determin- 
ing the exact legal status of the Indian together with an 
exact definition of all their rights and disabilities as laid 
down by the many complex laws and treaties. This sug- 
gestion was never carried out, and, because of this lack of 
definiteness, the Indian and the Government have becn 
forced to pay millions of dollars in legal fees, in seeking 
to adjust details. The Indian has suffered more than the 
loss of money; his flesh and blood and his very soul have 
been sacrificed upon the altar of neglect. Only now is the 
public awakening to the need of a re-codification of Indian 
law and a determination of the legal status of each tribe, 
band and division of Indians. 

In the first annual report submitted by Commissioner 
Parker in 1869 were many important suggestions. 

The difficulty of enforcing the law on the frontier caused 
much expense in property and life. In coneluding his 
report for 1869 the Commissioner in this connection says: 

I deem it my duty in closing this report to invite attention to 
the insufficiency, or the want of means to enforce existing laws and 
to remedy evils which are common throughout the entire service. 
Acts of a criminal character are often committed in the vicinity of 
Indian agencies, or upon Indian reservations, by both whites and 
Indians, no notice of which is taken for want of adequate power ai 
hand, and frequently when authority is asked from Washington to 
arrest the offenders, they in the meanwhile escape, so that the effect 
prompt action would have had is entirely lost, and crimes go unpun- 
ished, to be renewed again with impunity. To make the uncivilizet 
Indian respect law and observe his treaty obligations, the power to 


154 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


penish must be present, and the penalty of violated law promptly 
enforced. The same may also be said of the whites, who would not 
so readily commit wrongs against the Indians if they knew that 
punishment would follow close upon the commission of the crime. 
To the end therefore that it may be made apparent to the Indians 
as well as to the whites in any way connected or dealing with them, 
that the Government intends to execute the laws applicable to sveh 
eases and treaties, it is respectfully recommended that Congress be 
asked to pass a statute requiring the military to station at the 
agencies, whenever requested by proper authority, a sufficient number 
of troops to assist the agent in charge to make prompt arrest of all 
persons offending, that they may be handed over to the civil authori- 
ties for trial. 


In achieving the office of Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 
General Parker had reached the highest goal which his 
dreams of usefulness could bring to his mind. The great 
desire of his life—to serve his race—had reached its ful- 
fillment. Friends of the race rejoiced in the fact that an 
Indian was administering the affairs of his people and 
rendering the Federal Government a unique service. 

For the first time there was an Indian Commissioner of 
Indian Affairs, and needless to say that Commissioner 
loved his people, and they trusted him and looked to him 
with hope. It was the first faint hope of permanent self- 
government, freedom, and a new day of life for the red 
race in America. 

For the first time in the history of the Indian Depart- 
ment, Indian affairs were being cleaned up. The numerous 
councils held in the West by Commissioner Parker and the 
various members of the Board of Commissioners had a 
salutary effect upon the Indians who had reason to believe 
they had been injured. A new era had come for the 
Indians, and also for the grafting contractors. The latter 
were losing their customary profits, for many eyes were 
directed toward them. Their schemes therefore became 
shrewcer than before and with great subtlety they put in 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 155 


vogue new operations to defraud both the Government and 
the Indians. If they could then throw the blame upon the 
head of the Commissioner, they wanted to do so. 

Then there fell like a thunderbolt upon General Parker 
an accusation lodged by William Welsh, one of the mem- 
bers of the Board who had resigned. He accused Parker 
of scheming to defraud the Government of the United 
States and to mulct the Indians out of their just dues. 
His venom was such that he scornfully remarked about 
General Grant and libeled the Indian race itself by exclaim- 
ing that the President had put into office ‘‘one who is but a 
remove from barbarism.’? When good men go ‘‘wild’’” 
they sometimes do many damaging things and slander with- 
out thought men who may be entirely innocent. The battle 
waxed so fiercely that General Parker was in February, 
1871, tried before a Committee of the House of Represen- 
tatives. 

Mr. Welsh’s charges were that General Parker exceeded 
his authority and had responded to measures requiring 
immediate attention by prompt action without consulting 
the Board. He was charged with neglecting rules, with 
violating the law and with wasteful use of public money. 
Thirteen charges were brought. 

General Parker welcomed an investigation into his 
administration. His files were open, but even this did not 
satisfy his accusers. They looked into his bank account to 
find the grafted millions that their suspicion had scented, 
but found the Commissioner a poor man indeed. No. 
millions and no thousands could be found. Every one of 
their charges was disproven by the records of the Interior 
Department or the Indian office. The ‘‘bad Indian”’ could 
not be roped and branded with the title ‘‘bad.’’ 

The trial was held during the first winter months of 
1871. There was a steady purpose seen throughout the 
trial to ruin General Parker if possible. The General, how- 


156 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE [TkKOQUOIS 


ever, answered all questions freely, opened up his records 
and invited critical inspection of all his official acts. His 
attorney was General Chapman, and the entire proceedings 
were ordered published in the House Documents of 1871. 

The House Committee reviewed the evidence, and found 
that the incompetence and neglect which had been charged 
were not of the Commissioner, but of his subordinates. 
Many an Indian Commissioner has since seen all his good 
plans set at naught by the scheming or neglect of an assist- 
ant or a dishonest superintendent. The committee after a 
Jong investigation summed up the trial by saying: 


But your committee have not found evidence of fraud or corruy:- 
tion on;the part of the Indian Commissioner. With much to eriticise 
and condemn, arising partly from a vicious system mbherited from 
the past and partly from error in judgment im the construction of 
statutes passed to insure economy . . . we have found no evyi- 
dence of any pecuniary or personal advantage sought or derived by 
the Commissioner or any one connected with the bureau. 


In the end General Parker was found without a stain, 
but his heart was broken. He had done his utmost un- 
selfishly and with the single idea in his mind of doing 
immediately what should be done instead of dragging 
around his work the tangled coils of ‘‘red tape.’’ But one 
thing could not be undone entirely. He had started 
reforms and new methods. These lived and the Indians 
benefited. ‘‘Barbarian,’’ though he was called by the Phila- 
delphia shopkeeper, he was yet a gentleman, and among all 
the documents that he left not one slur is cast against Mr. 
Welsh, or one derogatory reference having a personal 
element is made toward his accusers. Though he was 
-assailed he never lifted his voice to imitate his enemies. 
‘They were good men, without doubt—every one—but it is 
to be feared they were misguided in their zeal to discover 
¢rime’s stain on innocent hands. 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 157 


Under Parker’s administration all Indian wars ceased. 
Under Parker there was an era of peace, for Indian blood- 
shed had been shown to be unnecessary. The Indians were 
beginning to develop a new confidence in ‘‘the Govern- 
ment.’’ Christian men and women of all denominations 
were sent to the tribes as missionaries and teachers. For 
the first time a systematic effort had been made to do a real 
service to the wards of the nation. 

Then came the onslaught: ‘‘The Indian must be put 
out!’’ But every effort was defeated. Parker was cleared, 
but as he says in one of his letters, ‘‘I gave up a thankless 
position to enjoy my declining days in peace and quiet.’’ 
He resigned in August, 1871. What now was before him? 

Ten years before, General Parker had been a successful 
civil engineer, entrusted with important undertakings. 
When the Government had wanted difficult pieces of work 
done Parker had been the man for the job. When light- 
house, levee or canal was wanted and there seemed to be 
grave difficulties in the way, problems to solve and dangers 
to avoid, men in official position knew whom to choose. 
Even the railroads knew the man to select when a road- 
bed must be laid across a swamp. It was always Parker. 
the man with a reputation for making good. He was the 
man to work night and day on a scheme for success; he 
was the man who could figure out details, and best of all he 
was the man who could stick until the work was finished. 

As an engineer he was a success, his life’s labor seemed 
assured. Then he heard the call of his country and 
responded. He stayed until the war was over and in his 
own handwriting had written out the terms of settlement. 
Continually he had stayed in the War Office and helped 
clear the way for the reconstruction. 

Event after event followed as a natural sequence. Grant, 
the idol of the North, was announced as the candidate for 
the Presidency. Parker clung to his leader and did his 


158 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IkOQUOIS 


share to make the campaign a success. Grant was elected 
and again Parker heard the eall to service. It was a double 
eall in which there mingled the voices of two races—his 
own and that of the sovereign nation—the Indian’s and the 
pale-face’s. Both were troubled, each misunderstood the 
other. Each had paid the penalty of that misunderstand- 
ing, in bloodshed; but of the two, the red man had suffered 
most, lost most, sacrificed most. The call which Parker 
heard was the call to a most difficult service. 

During the last days of his term President Taft said to 
me, as I talked over the resignation of Commissioner Valen- 
tine, with him: ‘‘The office of Commissioner of Indian 
Affairs is the most difficult appointive office in the country 
#o fill,’’ and then he sighed. This has always been so since 
there were such entities as Indian Commissioners. It was 
this difficult office that General Parker was called upon to 
fill. He took the office, filled with high hopes and visions 
of a better day for the men and women and children who 
were crying for an understanding friend, for a helping, 
healing hand to lift them from the sod where they had been 
trampled upon and wounded with the hoofs of many horses. 
There they lay almost plowed under the sod, as the plow- 
share of civilization cut its way into the West; there they 
lay prostrate beneath the ax-hewn trees of their own loved 
forests; there they lay cemented to earth by the clots of 
their own wounds. Who was there to help them? It was 
the idea that it might be he, that led General Parker to 
accept this difficult task. 

We have seen what difficulties he met. We have seen 
that there were men who did not wish the man “‘but one 
remove from a barbarian himself’’ to serve in this posi- 
tion. We have discussed the charges brought against him 
and seen that he was clear of guilt. 

But was it actually true that General Parker was honest, 
or did the investigation of his affairs merely fail to convict 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IkOQUOIS 159 


him of criminal action because of technicalities? We have 
only to seek the answer in his later life. Was he honest? 
Did not his barbarian blood, his ‘“‘undeveloped”’ nature, 
make him inclined to cheat when he had the chance and to 
evade responsibility where it was too heavy? Did it not 
make him say, ‘‘Oh, well, I’m only an Indian—men must 
not exact as much of me as of Anglo-Saxons’’? How these 
‘questions irritate the friends who know the real qualities 
of Parker’s character! They irritate because they are not 
honest questions, but implied crimination and imputation 
of inferiority. 

General Parker was honest, more honest than his 
accusers; in ability he was the peer of any of his associates 
‘and far superior to his enemies, as to real manhood. He 
mever ‘‘crawled,’’ never begged, never stooped to that 
which was mean. He took what came with the demeanor of 
a true gentleman and a philosopher. 

It is not strange, therefore, that when Commissioner 
Parker found himself clear and his reputation unscarred 
by his trial he should have prepared to resign his office. He 
would not stay where he was not wanted or where he had 
made himself, even though unintentionally, a rock of 
offence. Six months after his vindication by the Congres- 
sional committee he handed in his resignation. He gave 
his critics ample time to find new flaws, to lay out a new 
line of prosecution; and they failing, he felt that he could 
honorably hand over the work to others. This he did in 
August, 1871. To what was he now to turn? 

General Parker went to New York, where he found that 
keen competition left him but few opportunities in his pro- 
fession as an engineer. He found occasionally a project 
worthy of his efforts, but found it easier to build a fortune 
in Wall Street. Out of the proceeds of his investments he 
built a country home in Fairfield. Connecticut. 


160 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


General Parker moved in the best social circles wherever 
he went; his friends must be men of brain and standing. 
He chose them as he had chosen his books. He never lost 
his host of friends, but he did lose his fortune, and how he 
did this will answer the question, ‘‘Was he honest?’’ He 
was a bondsman for a bank cashier. The cashier defaulted 
and General Parker was called upon to make the bond good. 
It was a rude shock to have a trusted friend turn out a 
thief, almost as bad as making up for his embezzlements. 

General Parker’s attorneys hastened to him with advice. 
““You won’t have to pay,’’ they said; ‘‘You are an Indian, 
and the law does not hold you to it. You can not be com- 
pelled by law to live up to that bond. It is not worth the 
paper it is written on.’’ Here was a loop-hole that would 
save the accumulation of a lifetime. The elements of 
escape were few and simple; ‘‘Indian, do not have to pay, 
law can not compel—contract void.’’ 

But General Parker gave a single answer, ‘‘I fully intend 
to make that bond good,’’ he said. ‘‘I executed it in good 
faith. I am a man and if the law does not compel me to 
pay, my honor does.’’ And he paid, though his fortune 
was wrecked. Years after the defaulter became wealthy 
and respected, but he never repaid a penny. 

Again an effort was made to repair the loss of funds, and 
another small fortune was accumulated, only to be swept 
away in the crash of the Freedman’s bank. More money 
flowed out in the failure of an insurance company and still 
more in a publishing venture. This left a man past middle 
life in a position where he must struggle again for new foot- 
ing and new resources. What do most men do amid such 
disecouragements? What did he do? He went to work. And 
herein lay the secret of his life’s success. It is well 
embraced in the family maxim—it is Iroquois in its origin: 
“‘Spend no time in mourning the failures of the past. 


LAST GEAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 161 


Tears make a bitter throat. Look ahead, there is more 
work to do. Unstop your ears and listen. Hear the call.’’ 
More than a quarter of a century he had heeded this advice 
of the stone-age sages of his nation, when he had swung 
from his study of law to the study of engineering. When 
he had most to discourage him he listened and heard 
another call. He most thoroughly believed there was some 
place in the world for him and a place where he could do, 
upbuild and be useful as another man could not. He was 
not a fatalist who idly sat and took the shower or the sun- 
shine as it came. He stood upright and active and used 
the shower or the sunshine as suited him best. It was an 
opportunity for service. He would use the shower to make 
good things grow and the sunshine to make them blossom. 


162 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


CHAPTER XV 
A SACHEM’S LETTERS TO A POETESS 


General Parker was essentially a home-loving man. His 
family and his home were first in his thoughts. His devo- 
tion to his wife, who was much of an invalid, revealed his 
great tenderness and the true depth of his affection. These 
qualities manifested toward others made him a true friend, 
if he was a friend. He had many friends, from coast to 
coast. He could hold his friends because he knew the full 
meaning of the word. 

One of these friends was Mrs. Harriet Maxwell Converse, 
the daughter of Hon. Thomas Maxwell, of Elmira. Mrs. 
Converse was a poetess, a magazine writer and the wife of 
Frank M. Converse, the musician, known as “‘the father 
of the banjo.’’ Through her father her interest in the 
Troquois was an hereditary one. It became an active first- 
hand interest when in the course of the social life of the 
metropolis she met General Parker. The knowledge he 
gave her brought with it the inspiration for a deeper study 
of Indian life, and resulted in many years of devotion on 
her part to the Indians of New York State. In a certain 
measure the archeological museum of New York at Albany, 
owes its new beginning to her influence. 

Mr. and Mrs. Converse and General and Mrs. Parker 
became true friends. The mind of the poetess was 
especially attracted to that of the sachem, and he found 
in her a pleasant sympathetic companion. Indeed, General 
Parker never really knew or thought much about his real 
self until he met Harriet Maxwell Converse. This was 
probably about 1881, when she first began to take an active 
interest in Indians. Their acquaintance ripened into a 
deep friendship that continued without abatement until the 


ELY S. PARKER AS BRIGADIER-GENERAL 


Appointed assistant adjutant-general with rank of captain, June, 
1863. Commissioned first heutenant, U. S. Cavalry, 1866, resigning in 
1869. Brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers, April 9, 1865; and cap- 
tain, major, lieutenant-colonel, colonel, and brigadier-general, U.S. Army, 
March 2, 1867. 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 163 


General died. In a letter to her he once wrote that had it 
not been for her sympathetic interest in him and his people 
he should almost have forgotten his ancestry. True, he 
had ever been plied with questions regarding his race, and 
ealled upon to give his opinion in Indian matters, but this 
was simply because he was an authority on such matters as 
any man might have been; it did not serve to draw him to 
himself. The matter-of-fact world of civilization has a 
tendency to drive from the mind the memories, the theories 
.and longings of long ago, and it was in the matter-of-fact 
world that General Parker lived, toiling day by day for a 
livelihood. Constant business pressure left but little time 
for reflection and introspection. The mind of the Indian 
had been turned into the channels of the white man and the 
Indian thought of himself not as much, but simply as a 
man among a million fellow-toilers, struggling for bread 
and dollars. It was then that the poetic mind of Mrs. Con- 
verse drew back to its old channels the mind of General 
Parker. He felt himself an Indian again, he remembered 
his boyhood, he endured again the dream fast, he plunged 
into the deep forests and brought back pelts of wildcats 
and bears, he heard the tall pines sighing in the forest and 
saw beneath them the long-house where his red brothers 
were wont to meet and sing to the Great Spirit and dance 
‘before him; he thought of the fireside tales of the old story- 
tellers, of the medicine men of the secret societies that met 
in isolated lodges in the forest’s depths—the Society of the 
Bear, the Society of the Birds and the Society of the Otter. 
All these things flashed as in a vision before him and he 
was in the midst of all. He was an Indian again. A 
-sympathetic friend had brought it all back and he was ever 
‘grateful. Then were the poetess and the Indian friends in 
truth, confessing and confiding to each other the innermost 
secrets of their souls. 


164 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


When Mrs. Converse died, among her papers was found 
a number of letters—only a few of many, that General 
Parker had written her. These letters reveal the writer, 
not as the engineer, the architect, the diplomat, the military 
commandant, but as the Indian, the friend and the man. 
As I have said, a man may best be known by what he con- 
fides to his friends, and it is hoped that something of the 
true General Parker may be learned from a perusal of 
what he said, criticized, lamented, praised and confessed in 
these letters. 

The General addresses Mrs. Converse as ‘‘Gayaneshaoh,”’ 
this being her Seneca Indian name, or as the ‘‘Snipe,’’ her 
clan insignia, while he signs himself ‘‘Donehowaga,’’ his 
sachemship title. 

The letters, it is hoped, will tell their own story. They 
were written in confidence to a friend and not intended for 
the eyes of anyone else. Hence, they may be considered 
as revealing the true inner man better than any other 
means. Were General Parker and Mrs. Converse alive 
today both would protest against these letters being pub- 
lished, but no apology is offered in presenting them. Both 
were prominent and influential in their generation, and 
to the host that knew them these letters will serve as an 
interesting sidelight, to others they will record the thoughts 
of an Iroquois sachem. 

[Without date] 


Drak GAYANESHAOH:—On reading your last note I was greatly 
amused—and why? Because what I have written heretofore has been 
taken verbatim et literatim and a character given me to which I am 
no more entitled than the man in the moon: I am credited or charged 
with being ‘‘great,’’ ‘‘powerful,’’ and finally crowned as ‘‘good.’’ 
Oh, my guardian genius, why should I be so burdened with what I 
am not now and never expect to be: Oh, indeed, would that I could 
feel a ‘‘kindling touch from that pure flame.’’ That a fair and 
ministering angel would endow me with the exuberance of preju- 
diced enthusiasm. 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 165 


And why all this commotion of the spirit? Because I am an 
ideal or a myth and not my real self. I have lost my identity and 
I look about me in vain for my original being. I never was ‘‘great,’’ 
and never expect to be. I never was ‘‘powerful,’’ and would not 
know how to exercise power were it placed in my hands for use. And 
that I am ‘‘good’’ or ever dreamed of attaining that blissful condi- 
tion of being, is simply absurd. 

All my life I have oceupied a false position. As a youth my 
people voted me a genius and loudly proclaimed that Hawenneyo had 
‘destined me to be their saviour and they gave public thanksgiving for 
the great blessing they believed had been given them, for unfor- 
tunately just at this period they were engaged in an almost endless 
and nearly hopeless litigated contest for their New York homes and 
consequently for their very existence. 

For many years I was a constant visitor at the State and Federal 
capitals either seeking legislative relief or in attendance at State 
and Federal Courts. Being only a mere lad, the pale-faced officials, 
with whom I came in contact, flattered me and declared that one so 
young must be extraordinarily endowed to be charged with the conduct 
of such weighty affairs. I pleased my people in eventually bringing 
their troubles to a successful and satisfactory termination. I pre- 
pared and had approved by the proper authorities a code of laws and 
tules for the conduct of affairs among themselves and settled them 
for all time or for so long as Hawenneyo should let them live. 

They saw all this and thought it was good. They no longer wanted 
me nor gave me credit for what had been done. A generation had 
passed and another grown up since I began to work for them. The 
‘young men were confident of their own strength and abilities and 
needed not the brawny arm of experience to fight their battles for 
them, nor the wisdom brought about by years of training to guide 
them any longer. The War of the Rebellion had broken out among 
the pale-faces, a terrible contest between the slaveholding and non- 
slaveholding sections of the United States. I had, through the Hon. 
Wm. H. Seward, personally tendered my services for the non-slave- 
holding interest. Mr. Seward in short said to me that the struggle 
in which I wished to assist, was an affair between white men and one 
in which the Indian was not called on to act. ‘‘The fight must be 
made and settled by the white men alone,’’ he said. ‘‘Go home, 
cultivate your farm, and we will settle our own troubles without any 
Indian aid.’’ 

I did go home and planted crops and myself on the farm, some- 
times not leaving it for four and six weeks at a time. But the quarrel 


166 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


of the whites was not so easily or quickly settled. It was not & 
wrangle of boys, but a struggle of giants and the country was being 
racked to its very foundations, 

Then came to me in my forest home a paper bearing the great 
red seal of the War Department at Washington. It was an officer’s- 
commission in the Army of the United States. The young Indian 
community had settled in their untutored minds that because I had 
settled quietly, willingly and unconcernedly into the earning of my 
living by the sweat of my brow, I was not, therefore, a genius or a. 
‘man of mind. That they were in truth correct, they did not know, 
jealousy and envy having prompted the idea and utterance. But now 
this paper coming from the great Government at Washington offering 
to confer honors for which I had not served an apprenticeship, nor 
even asked for, revived among the poor Indians the idea that I was 
after all a genius and great and powerful. . . . They pleaded 
with me not to leave them but to remain as their counsellor, adviser 
and chief; they said that they would be powerless and lost without my 
presence. They tacitly acknowledged my genius, greatness and power, 
which I did not. When I explained that I was going into the war 
with a splendid prospect of sacrificing my life, as much for their 
good as for the maintenance of the principles of the Constitution and 
Laws of the United States, and upholding of the Union Flag in its 
purity, honor and supremacy over this whole country, they silently 
and wisely bowed their heads and wept in assent as to the inevitable. 
I bade them farewell, commended them to the care and protection of 
‘Hawenneyo and left them. never expecting to return. 

I went from the East to the West and from the West to the 
East again. They heard of me in great battles and they knew of 
my association with the great commander of all the Union armies: 
and how I upheld the right arm of his strength, and they said, ‘‘ How 
great and powerful is our chief!’’ 

The quarrel between the white men ended. The great com- 
mander with his military family settled in Washington, where the- 
great council-fire of his nation was annually lighted and blazed in 
all its glory and fury. As an humble member of this military family 
I was the envy of many a pale-faced subordinate embryo-general who 
said in whisper, ‘‘ Parker must be a genius, he is so great and power- 
ote 

In a few years my military chieftain was made head and front 
of the whole American people, and in his partiality he placed me at 
the head of the management of the Indian Affairs of the United 
States. I was myself an Indian and presumably understood them, 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 167 


their wants and the manipulation of their affairs generally. Then 
again went out among the whites and Indians the words, ‘‘ Parker 
must be a genius, he is so great and powerful.’’ 

The Indians were universally pleased, and they were all willing 
to be quiet and remain at peace, and were even asking to be taught 
civilization and Christianity. I put an end to all wars either among 
themselves or with their white brothers, and I sent professed Christian 
whites who waxed rich and fat from the plundering of the poor 
Indians, nor were there teacherships enough to give places to all the 
hungry and impecunious Christians. Then was the ery raised by all 
who believed themselves injured or unprovided for, ‘‘Nay, this 
Parker is an Indian genius; he is grown too great and powerful; 
he doth injure our business and take the bread from the mouths of 
‘our families and the money from out of our pockets; now, there- 
fore, let us write and put him out of power, so that we may feast as 
heretofore. ’’ 

They made their onslaught on my poor innocent head and made 
the air foul with their malicious and poisonous accusations. They 
were defeated, but it was no longer a pleasure to discharge patriotic 
‘duties in the face of foul slander and abuse. I gave up a thankless 
position to enjoy my declining days in peace and quiet. But my days 
‘are not all peace and quiet. I am pursued by a still small voice 
constantly echoing, ‘‘Thou art a genius, great and powerful,’’ and 
even my little cousin, the restless Snipe, has with her strong, piping 
voice echoed the refrain, ‘‘Thou art great, powerful and good.’’ 


Your cousin, 


DoneEHOoGAWA, The Wolf. 


New York, 12, 24, 85. 


DeEsarR GAYANESHAOH:—I know well that the Snipe is a restless, 
‘uneasy, harmless little bird. hence I was not surprised to find that my 
Uncle’s gray uniformed, lightfooted messenger had today left another 
note on my table from you. Yet notwithstanding the known character 
for rapacity and cruelty of the Wolf in mythological lore in all coun- 
tries and among all peoples, it is yet a noble animal. It was the 
father and mother of the founders of ancient Rome, and it deceived 
poor little Red Riding Hood. I am not certain whether the fidgety 
Snipe figures in either ancient or modern history. I hope it does 
since you desire it. I promise that the restless flighty, prodigal, but 
good little Snipe, shall receive nothing but kindness and protection 


168 LAST GEAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


from the wild, ferocious, untamable Wolf of North America, for it 
is very probable that the two are cousins. There must be no ‘‘Kil- 
kenny’’ business in our relationship, nor any such foolish affairs as 
is reported to have occurred between the parrot and the monkey. 


New York, 1, 8th, 86. 


My DerAr Cousin GAYANESHAOH:—You have asked me a hard 
and perhaps an unanswerable question, viz.; when does ‘‘the New 
Year begin with the Indians?’’ To tell the truth, I do not believe that 
any such thing as New Year’s is or was ever known or recognized 
among the Indians. They calculated time by moons, seasons, flower, 
berry, planting and harvest times and by all other annual occurring 
events, also from one annual or quarterly feast to another. Literally 
speaking, they termed their years, cycles, being reckoned from one 
event to the same recurring event, 7. €., a return to the same point, 
and this is commonly styled one snow or winter. 

If your question refers to the annual Iroquois festival when 
purifications take place, shortcomings confessed, old fires put out, 
and new fires started, during which time also the immaculate white 
dog is sacrificed and which is now generally called by writers the 
“‘New Year’s Festival,’’ then I can answer, that it usually takes 
place in midwinter, which by them is fixed and corresponds to the 
second moon in the Christian year. The Festival might, and perhaps 
often does, occur in the latter part of January and sometimes in 
early February. No particular day is established, the moon is the 
only guide, together with the whims and convenience of the ‘‘ Keepers 
of the Faith.’’ 


Hoping that my explanation may be satisfactory, 


I remain your Cousin, The Wolf, 
DoNEHOGAWA. 


New York, 1, 12, 86. 


My Dsrar Cousin:—Many thanks for permitting me read Mrs. 
Wright’s interesting letter. It is very singular that those who know 
the Indians the best, either by being one of them or by having inti- 
mate relations with them, should almost always entertain similar views. 
Mrs. Wright says it is greater to Christianize than to civilize a 
nation, ‘‘Especially when they are surrounded by the vices of civili- 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE I£OQUOIS 169 


zation, and I had almost said of Christianity and perhaps I might 
as well, for is not nominal Christianity fiooded with vices?’’ 

When I read this I was reminded of a sentence I had written 
to a lady in Lawrence, Mass., a short time ago who had plied me 
with nearly a score of questions on Indian matters. In answer to 
one question, I remarked that ‘‘the vices peculiar to Christian civili- 
zation are enveloping the remnants of this interesting people and 
strangling the life out of them with an Archimedean force.’’ To this 
sentence she very sweetly replied, ‘‘Call it rather a Christless civilt- 
zation. The blessed Christ had not ‘where to lay His head.’ And 
surely most dear to His heart are those to whom He gives the privi- 
lege of so entering into His earthly state through sympathy with 
like suffering; His many mansions will infinitely repay them all the 
moneys and losses here.’’ 

This lady is doubtless a good Christian, philanthropic in a useless 
way and evidently impracticable. Mrs. Wright is also a good, philan- 
thropic Christian, thoroughly practical, and she knows of what she 
writes. I prefer her sentiments, and honor her for making a plain 
statement of the truth. A few more equally conscientious mission- 
aries among the Indians would be of more benefit than all things 
else, 

This matter is interjected here simply to show you what variety 
of view may or can be entertained by good people who are working 
for the same result. One of these ladies is a member of the ‘‘ Indian 
Aid Association,’’ the other is a practical, personal ‘‘aider’’ and 
has given her life, thus far, to the thankless task of civilizing and 
Christianizing the Indians, a result that after many years of labor, 
now seems to her an almost hopeless possibility, for she thinks the 
tendency of the race is ‘‘downward.’’ 

Respecting your own note, I can only say that I am happy, if 
I can by writing or by my presence bring the least bit of sunshine 
into your soul. I bury the fact that 

‘«The melancholy days are come, the saddest of the year. 
Of wailing winds and naked woods, and meadows brown and 
sere,’ 
and only remember and revel in the thought that ‘‘A friend should 
bear his friends’ infirmities,’’ that ‘‘ ’Tis only noble to be good,’’ 
and that ‘‘Kind hearts are more than coronets.’’ 


Semper Idem, 
The Wolf, 


To GAYANESHAOH, DoNEHOGAWA. 
The Snipe. 


170 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


New York, 3, 12, 86. 


My Drarz Cousin GAYANESHAOH:—I should have answered your 
note of yesterday the moment it was received but I was unusually 
busy and was in my office only for a very few minutes during the 
whole day. You wonder at my long silence and absence. ’Tis easily 
explained. You know that for some time past my wife has not been 
well. I made it a point to be with her just as much as I gould. 
I was compelled to forego all social obligations and pleasures and 
went nowhere except where imperative necessity demanded. Thus. 
all my friends were neglected and many found fault with me. Duty 
with me however was paramount. My wife did not improve and last 
Tuesday she took to her bed. The doctor has attended her closely 
since, and promises now to have her about again in a few days. My 
whole time therefore has been divided between the discharge of my 
official duties and my home. By this you will understand why I 
have not sought admission at your door. It was my intention to 
have gone to your house last Tuesday evening to lay before your 
consideration a letter from Mr. Tripp and my answer thereto. But 
the sickness at home broke up my well-laid plans and you were 
saved from a bore. Mr. Tripp’s letter related to the same matter 
which has made your heart sick, viz., the Sessions scheme. It was a 
pathetic appeal to me to do or write something, or go to Washington 
and help to break up this infamous plan to sink forevermore the 
Seneca’s individuality as well as his nationality. It was almost like 
the Macedonian call to Paul to ‘‘come over’’ and ‘‘help us.’’ My 
sympathies, feelings and every fibre of my soul are for my people. 
Yet I do not think Mr. Tripp will like my letter. It was too prac- 
tical. The fact is that the Indian question, in Congress and with 
the American people generally, is no longer one of humanization, but 
is now purely political and all interested persons must treat and 
look at it as such. 

Messrs. Jemison and John Seneca, delegates to Washington, 
called at my house on last Monday. but as I was still at my office I 
missed them. I was sorry for I wanted to find out the prospects. 

As requested I return you my brother’s letter. He writes a good. 
letter. I wish I could do as well. Do not look for me at any stated. 
time. I will appear when least expected. 


As ever truly yours, 


DONEHOGAWA, 
The Wolf.. 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 17F 


To My Cousin, GAYANESHAOH, 
THe LITTLE SNIPE. 


Your note of today seems to have been written in a'spirit of 
vexation. And why? Because callers interfered with or interrupted 
the pleasant chat we were having. That was all right and proper, 
for society has its demands upon its votaries which cannot be avoided: 
or evaded without offense. I am glad I did not know that it was 
your day, though had I known I would have called all the same, as it 
was the first loose time which had fallen to me since my return from 
the great West. Some time in the near future we may have another 
talk about our great country, &c. Tomorrow p. m. I go to Phila- 
delphia to spend Sunday with a sick friend. 


As ever truly yours, 


DONEHOGAWA, 
The Wolf. 
mM. Y., 8, 27, 86. 


New York, Dec. 7th, 86. 


DEAR GAYANESHAOH:—I shall never attempt to eriticise the 
work of your pen or pencil because I have not the magie spell over 
either which you possess. Besides I am fearful of exciting the ire 
of your watchful and powerful muse if I fail to grasp every idea 
and word she inspires. I am very glad though to know that the 
drooping spirit of the restful Snipe has been revived and that the 
smouldering embers of her lodge-fire have been revivified into a cheer- 
ful blaze by the fitful glimpse of a prowling Wolf ‘‘down the distant 
valley.’’ The ‘‘foot-tracks of a wandering wolf on the fallen snow 
imprinted,’’ I must ignore. for it is too near akin to ‘‘tracks on the 
sand,’’ the one so suddenly disappearing at the dictation of the most 
gentle zephyr, and the other yielding so readily to the slightest 
basilisk or glance of the sun-god. A distant view of the reality even 
if the view be but fitful and uncertain is, to my ‘‘untutored mind.’” 
more satisfactory, Little Snipe. Keep your watch and wait for the 
reality of the substance whose shadows the eye of your imagination 
hath seen in the ‘‘far and distant valley,’’ for remember that where 
@ shadow is seen there is some substance to make it. 

I beg you not to tell me that because the beautiful snow has 
fallen and covered the lovely bosom of Mother Earth, and because 
the North Winds howl and scream into every crack and crevice of 
man’s shelter, I should be revelling in legendary and forestry lore. 


172 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


No, dreamland, fairy-land and story-land are all good and charming 
for those who have time and talent that way. For me there is but 
one world to deal with at present, viz., the world of stern reality, 
and all other fancies are pushed aside for life’s actual strifes. Do 
you know or can you believe that sometimes the idea obtrudes itself 
into my obtuse and lethargic brain, whether it has been well that I 
have sought civilization with its bothersome concomitants and 
whether it would not be better even now (being convinced by my 
weakness and failure to continue in the gladiatorial contest of 
modern life) to return to the darkness and most sacred wilds (if 
any such can be found) of our country and there to vegetate and 
expire silently, happily and forgotten as do the birds of the air and 
the beasts of the field. The thought is a happy one, but perhaps 
impracticable. I mention it only as a stray ignis fatwus of a 
‘bewildered and erratic brain. 

Once more I bid the Snipe au revoir until circumstances decree 
favorably to my inclinations of visiting your tepee. 


Sincerely and truly, 


DoONEHOGAWA, 
THE SNIPE. The Wolf. 


New York, Jany. 7th, 87. 


DEAR CousIN:—I have yours of yesterday which gave me some 
pleasant reading. I am pleased to know that the ‘‘New Year’’ just 
past was so satisfactory to you. I hope also the approaching New 
Year and the annual recurring ‘‘milestone’’ in your life may bring 
nothing with it but the most pleasant reflections, reminiscences and 
‘beneficent and healthful resolves to live the life to which an all-wise 
‘Creator has predestined you. I sometimes envy people who are gifted 
~with birthdays and who can proudly point to some day of the year 
that passes over them as the day of all days most consequential to 
them. For remember, I am nearly akin to Topsy who never had a 
‘irthday, never was born, and only growed up; my birthday which 
occurred sometime ‘‘in the course of human events’’ was never 
recorded in any book of man, hence I take the liberty of being 
neither elated nor depressed on any special day of the year and I 
‘know not whether I am old or young. I love all the days of the 
year alike, and can claim any one or all of them as my birthdays. 
‘Can any one be more blessed, and also more unfortunate? I am 
afraid if I knew the day I should always be dreading its return or 
Jive in fear of its never returning. But as it is I am in the most 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 173 


gifted state of ‘‘innocuous desuetude’’ and consequently always 
happy. Pardon this wild digression but the thought flitted through 
my erratic brain, I caught it on the wing and impose it on you. Your 
literary shoulders are broad and can bear it. I can never tel? 
whether to congratulate one for the return of a birthday. Life may 
have been a misery and burden to them so far, and to congratulate 
such and wish them many returns of the happy day would only be the 
most bitter mockery and sarcasm. Again with others, the pathway of 
life may have been strewn with roses and lighted with the brightest 
sunshine; congratulations to such would be an empty superfiuity. In 
your case, however, while I know nothing of your past and much less 
of your future, I can sincerely congratulate you in safely nearing 
another important epoch and ‘‘finger-post’’ in your journey of life, 
and I can truly wish that your future roadway may be made easy 
and charming by every blessing which a kind and good Hawenneyo 
ean bestow upon you. 

Do you know that your use of the word ‘‘milestones’’ struck 
an uncanny chamber in my cerebrum? It brought vividly to my 
mind’s eye those old-fashioned milestones once so numerous and 
important in country districts and which always reminded me of 
those marble slabs placed at the head of a grave in rural cemeteries, 
or ‘‘grave-yards,’’ as they were called. To some they marked the 
buried loves and hopes of families and sometimes of peoples; to 
others whose fancies run free and unbridled, they mark the entrance 
gate to a life of which we know nothing, but which is said to be 
fraught with happiness or misery according as one has planted on 
earth. I wonder if the ‘‘milestones of life’’ has any philosophic 
semblance to the funeral or ‘‘grave’’ stones. I pause not for a 
reply, but for sober reflection and thought. 

Your note respecting Mr. Clark’s visit is also received. It will 
make Jemison’s heart glad to know what Mr. Clark says. I am also 
delighted, and thank you very much for the aid which you have given 
me in this matter. 

My contemplated call on you is still an uncertain event of the 
future. I was coming last evening, your ‘‘night at home,’’ but 2 
flood of company pouring in and staying prevented the execution of 
my plans. It is I who should apologize for writing, as you say, 
‘*s9 often.’’ Your letters are solid business, my replies are ‘‘airy 
nothings.’’ Then, whose is the apology? A ‘‘word to the wise 


2) 
5 Your cousin, 


DONEHOGAWA, 
The Wolf. 


174 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


New York, Jany. 11th, 1887. 


Dear GAYANESHAOH:—As requested I return you herewith friend 
Hutchinson’s good letter. I also thank you for the pleasure you give 
me in sending me that excellent, well digested, thoughful letter of 
your own. I must though, right here, disclaim all knowledge of my 
dear mother’s dream, or vision, at a certain period of my pre-exist- 
ence, or advent, into this ‘world of trouble. The ‘‘rainbow’’ business 
was rather an indisereet interjection at so early a period of my 
affairs, and its influences and effects cannot with any degree of posi- 
tiveness be explained or interpreted at this distance of time. It is 
possible that I may then have been impressed with that variegated 
and kaleidoscopic character of mind and fortune which thus far in 
my life has been my lot. That the mysterious hieroglyphices on the 
beautiful face of the bow of the covenant was an assurance to her 
that the son to be born of her would ‘‘be learned and great’’ is 
‘beyond my ken. The vision was beautiful and heavenly divine, but 
the ‘‘romance’’ you put into my life and attainments, in conse- 
quence, is too incongruous and unhallowed. Pardon me for using 
this last word, but it seemed to be so apropos to my abhorrence of 
being suspected as a ‘‘child of fate’’ that I could not help using it 
as it strikes hard at the root of the matter. You know that I mean 
no reflection on you or on your convictions and beliefs, for I only 
wish to express in the most emphatic manner my disbelief in the doc- 
-trine of fatalism. However we will let this drop and remain what 
we have so far been, and expect to be in this ‘‘vale of tears,’’ 
cousins and friends. The past is gone never to return, the present 
alone is here and in it we can pluck the fruits that the gods give 
‘us, remembering, for our future that Christly injunction, to ‘‘take 
no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for 
the things of itself.’’ Is this fatalism? I hope not. 

In your note you remark, ‘‘I know you.’’ From the bottom of 
my heart I wish you did. There are so many sides to my nature 
that I sometimes fancy myself like a chameleon, ever changing color 
in thought with every varying circumstance. If you do know me, 
you have a far deeper insight into dark mysterious human nature 
than I possess over my own earthly kingdom. 

Now I will ery peccavi; I will cease to wrangle, I will restore my 
tomahawk to my belt, my scalping knife to its sheath and unstring 
my bow. These primitive weapons are no match for your electrical 
pen. Like Scott’s coon, I say, ‘‘Don’t shoot.’’ I will come down 
and resume the manner and custom of civilized mankind and the 
west of the world, and look only at the surface of things, which is 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 175 


all I generally submit to the outside world. What you read above, 
are only the meteoric flashes of my nomadic, ethereal brain and are 
harmless. 

Your Insentient Cousin, 


DONEHOGAWA. 
THE WOLF. 


New York, Jany. 22nd, 1887. 


DrAR CousIn:—I received and perused with interest the intro- 
ductory ‘‘Ode’’ to your contemplated ‘‘ Festivals,’’ on which I dare 
not pass judgment, primarily because I have not the literary capa- 
<ity and finally because it meets my hearty and unqualified approval. 
The ancient League is legitimately entitled to great praise and honor 
among the expiring peoples of the earth. It possessed moral and 
physical courage in a remarkable degree, equal perhaps to any exam- 
ple that the most civilized people ever recorded of themselves. Nat: 
urally, their intellectual qualities were of a marked and higher order. 
In the organization of the League, they attempted the unification of 
the contemporaneous occupants of this country on a plan worthy of 
the wisest and most sagacious statesmen of any age. or country. 
In their simplicity they early discovered, adopted and exemplified 
the incontrovertible and wise political doctrine, that in union there 
is strength. 

Your exordial lines to the ‘‘Clans’’ to cling closer and stronger 
one to the other because their day is passing and night falling fast, 
are grand and sublime. Further comment is superfluous. 


I am as éver &c. 


DOoNEHOGAWA. 
To THE GIFTED SNIPE. 


New York, Oct. 4th, 1887. 


Dear Cousin:—The outpourings of your terrific wrath against 
certain Christian practices, beliefs and propositions for the ameli- 
oration and improvement of certain unchristian people who live on 
reservations where the English language is not spoken, and where 
‘‘vice and barbarism’’ are rampant, was duly received yesterday. 
The Bishop is right in his reference to the remnants of the Six 
Nations being yet deplorably subject to individual disability, dis- 


176 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


advantages and wrong arising from their tribal conditions,’’ in all 
except the last proposition. 

The disabilities, disadvantages and wrongs do not result how- 
ever either primarily, consequently or ultimately from their tribal con- 
dition and native inheritances but solely, wholly and absolutely from 
the unchristian treatment they have always received from Christian 
white people who speak the English language, who read the English 
Bible and who are pharisaically divested of all the elements of vice 
and barbarism. The tenacity with which the remnants of this people 
have adhered to their tribal organizations and religious traditions 
is all that has saved them thus far from inevitable extinguishment; 
when they abandon their birthright for a mess of Christian pottage 
they will then cease to be a distinctive people. It is useless though to 
discuss this question already prejudged and predetermined by a 
granitic Christian hierarchy from whose judgments and decisions 
there seems to be no appeal. 

I hope you are well. Tomorrow evening I am booked for a 
meeting of the Loyal Legion. Hope to call ere long. 


Your Cousin, 


THE SNIPE. THE WOLF. 


New York, Nov. 19th, 1888. 


My Dear CousiIn:—Yours of the 18th received. I sympathize 
with you in the loss of your whilom friend, Mr. Perry. I can easily 
imagine that he must have been of essential and material service 
in spurring you on in the development of your natural instinets. I 
only hope that although he has gone to join the great army in the 
unknown land you may not lay aside the weapons with which you 
are armed and wrap yourself in a mantle of despair. 

I do not think I am very well either mentally or physically, but 
I attend to my work the same as if every thing was lovely and 
serene, and life were worth living. The reading of ‘‘Robert Els- 
mere,’’ the detestable agnostic, (which by the way I have not yet 
waded through) may have something to do with my imaginary or 
fancied depression. So far, I don’t like the book,—it is probably too 
deep metaphysically, psychologically and religiously for me. 

I have business in your neighborhood about 3 p. m. tomorrow, 
and I may run in and greet you. Until then, au revoir. 


As ever, 


To Tue L. S. THE WOLF. 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 177 


New York, May 23rd, 88. 


DzsR CousIN:—The old saying that man proposes and God dis- 
poses is only too true. I know a lady who once wrote that on a certain 
afternoon she was always at home, but it seems that sometimes 
Providence thwarts her plans. I have always voted myself a vietim 
of circumstances, and outside of business, I never make plans and 
I go and come as the ever-shifting winds, and if my impulsive schemes 
misearry or disjoin, I do not nurse a feeling or thought of disappoint- 
ment, and do not lose hope of better luck next time; besides I call 
to mind the words. ‘‘Try, try again.’’ 

Grand Army affairs and other peremptory duties command every 
minute of my well time, for you must know that I am far from 
being well, though I never speak about it to any one and I go along 
in the even tenor of my ways, discharging my business and other 
obligations like one in a trance. Twice I have called at your house 
because I had a few spare moments. I did not find any one at home, 
but I shall not give it up so, I will come again when time admits 
of it. Your lament received. By the way, will you and Mr. C. 
aecept seats on the G. A. R. reviewing stand on Memorial Day? If 


so I will send or bring you tickets. 
Yours, 


THE WOLF. 
THE SNIPE. 


N. ¥. 2, 15, 89. 12M. 


My Drak Cousin:—Your two notes of yesterday, with enclos- 
ures, just received, as I have only this moment made my first call 
at my office. 

Between your overpowering love and Mr. Bryant’s fulsome 
adulations I am about ready to surrender the ghost. I am not aware 
that I have done anything either for you or for him to deserve 
that such commendations should be heaped like coals of fire upon 
my poor defenceless head. One remarks, ‘‘I never loved you so 
much as yesterday,’’ and the other says ‘‘the General is the most 
consummate flower of all the Iroquois.’’ Surely nothing can be 
sweeter and more exquisite than to have the love and flower of two 
dear friends thus combined and so tenderly expressed and conse- 
erated. I thank you both with all my heart, but all the same, I am 
like Simeon of old, now ready to depart in peace. 

I sincerely hope that when friend Bryant reads the typewritten 
copy of my ‘‘inspiration,’’ as he is pleased to call it, he may like 
it more and give it his Samsonian support. I ask no more, and if, 
after all, it fails we shall fall together. 

Sincerely, 
THe WOLF. 


178 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


PouLicE DEPARTMENT OF THE CIty or NEw York. 


No. 300 MuLsBErry STREET. 
New York, March 24th, 1890. 


Dear Cousin:—Thanks for yours of the 20th from Buffalo. 
The R. J. business looks encouraging, all owing to your perseverance 
and courage. You have had awful weather for your work, yet I 
hope your labors will be crowned with success, and that you have 
kept well through it all. 

Last week I was miserable and stayed at home nearly the whole 
week. It is all in the foot. The sore spot is constantly enlarging 
and of course it is very painful. I am continuing the diet of beef 
and hot water. I see the Doctor often. He is very kind and good. 
I cannot conjecture what the issue of my trouble will be. Hoping 
for your success, good health and safe return in the Great Spirit’s 
good time. 

I am as ever, 


THE L. S. THE WOLF. 


New York, June 23rd, ’91. 


My Dear Mrs. C.—I was extremely delighted to get your brief 
note and learn how bountifully honors have been showered upon 
you by the remnants of the Iroquois, both in New York and Canada. 
You deserve these honors, empty and shadowy though they be, and 
a@ great deal more for the service you and yours have rendered them. 

I got your card from Brantford and Mr. Converse transmitted 
to me from Syracuse a telegram of the proceedings there. Accept 
please my hearty congratulations on your triumphal tour among these 
simple but honest-hearted children of our ancient forests. That the 
Great Spirit may bless you and them always is my constant prayer. 

We high-minded New Yorkers are sweltering in a temperature 
tinectured with suggestions of the infernal regions and consequently 
cooling drinks are in constant and unceasing demand. Mrs. P. 
and I have spent three days at Manhattan Beach and found it 
charming. Mrs. P. is nbw talking of making a visit to Chicago. 
Have called twice at your house and each time Mr. C. was absent- 
I am expecting to visit Philadelphia this week, but not for sure. 
I am making the same slothful advance towards recovery of good 
health that I have so long struggled with. If I live long enough, 
I may possibly get well! 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 179 


You are having such a nice time, I would not by any means 
hurry back to New York but let the Snipe rest its little wings and 
fish and flutter and twitter its notes on the streams of Central New 
York. It will be most weleome back to New York, when it can go 
nowhere else. 

Semper Idem, 


WoL. 


New York, July 6th, 793. 


My BELoveD SNipE:—Yours of the 2nd was duly received and 
I thank you very much that you remember me and speak to me 
from your quiet and lovely retreat. I am very, very sorry to say 
though that judging from your brief note that you are much worse, 
in mind at least, if not in body, than when I saw you last. Every 
line of your note is as blue as indigo, and you picture humanity, 
as if they were all demons or devils, conspiring on burdening you 
with every misery mortal flesh is heir to, even to the unsettling of 
the mind, and forever darkening and damning even the soul. 

Now why is this? You say yourself that you are in a most 
lovely country with beautiful views all around you; the silent, but 
peaceful, murmuring of the babbling brooklet near by inducing quiet 
repose, the heavenly music of the feathered songsters constantly in 
your ear, the almost intelligible prattle and scolding of the pretty 
tiny red squirrel to amuse you, the endless grinding of the cricket 
on the hearth encouraging reflection, and the unceasing hum of 
thousands of insects, seen and unseen, in the grass and shrubbery 
about you,—all this, I say, would seem unmistakable aids to drive 
dull cares away, and to bring rest, peace and happiness to the weary 
‘body and soul, and yet they evidently only increase your misery, 
depress your spirit, make you gloomy and morbid and your soul 
heavy. This is all wrong and should not be. They say that when 
you are in Rome you must do as the Romans do, therefore if every 
thing about you, animate and inanimate, is peaceful, restful and 
speaks of happiness, then you, who are so susceptible, impressible 
and imaginative should drift into the same mood and spirit of your 
environment, and thus disperse the gloom, desolation and inky dark- 
ness in which you are attempting to enshroud yourself, and which 
is by no means conducive to the recovery of good health or an even 
balance of the mind. Don’t think for one moment that I am scold- 
ing you.—no, I never could do that; but I only want to speak plainly, 
honestly and truthfully to you, and end my homily. Forgive my errors. 


180 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


I am in my usual health and enjoy everything around me. Mrs. 
Parker has again changed her mind and, with Maud, has gone back 
from Western New York to Denver, to stay until she again changes 
her mind to come home to me. Our summer weather so far has 
been invigorating, delicious. I am more than gratified to know that 
my Snipe will write me at least once a week, but don’t write unless 
it is perfectly easy and in harmony with your mood. The Great 
Spirit will protect and watch over you and in his own good time, 
restore you in health and vigor to us who love you. 


From THE WOLF. 


New York, July 10th, 94. 


My DrEsR SNIPE:—To say that I am busy would not be news, 
yet it is high time to acknowledge the receipt of your good letters, 
one from Buffalo and one from Bath ree’d to-day. I am happy to 
know that you enjoy yourself so much. You deserve it and are 
entitled to all the happiness you can extract from your well-earned 
outing. 

On the 15th ult. I started or commenced a letter, (but never 
finished it) to you expressing my disappointment at not finding you 
home when I called to say good-bye and to bless you for a good 
journey and a safe return. I say also that you have already heard 
and seen things, which you had never before ‘‘dreamed of in your 
philosophy.’’ The people you have been visiting, have never yet 
been understood, not fully comprehended. I say that ‘‘to study 
them satisfactorily needs a lifetime, and at the end of life one has 
hardly begun the study. The study of a race is like the study of 
a single character, both are extremely kaleidoscopic.’’ Your oppor- 
tunities have been grand and rare; you have improved them well, 
and to-day you are the best posted woman on Indian lore in America. 

I do not feel as well or as strong as when you left; perhaps 
I have done too much, for business crowds me hard, or the hot 
weather may be too exhausting. but I am very tired and care not 
how soon the end comes. 

My family are well. Maud is in Jersey and wife at home. When 
I can get away, we shall all go together somewhere, the where not 
yet determined. 

I have missed you greatly, and shall continue to miss you until 
your return next fall. 

Sincerely and Ever Yours, 


To THE WANDERING SNIPE. THE WOLF. 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 181 


CHAPTER XVI 


THE GETTYSBURG SPEECH OF GRANT’S 
MILITARY SECRETARY 

Among the papers of General Parker, but one has been 
found having the character of an address to his military 
eomrades. It is his speech at Gettysburg on September 26, 
1891. In it we catch a glimpse both of the soldier and the 
sachem. The speech follows, copied directly from the first 
draft of his own manuscript: 


GENERAL PARKER’s ADDRESS AT GETTYSBURG 

‘“Twenty-eight years ago last July many of you were 
here under very different circumstances and for a totally 
different purpose than that which recalls you here today. 
Then you came to maintain the doctrine of the indivisibility 
of the Union of the American States, whose organic law 
was the liberty and equality of all men. You came to 
maintain the integrity of the American flag and the right 
that it alone should float over the free icy regions of the 
North to the tropical country, extending from climes of 
the South and East and West and from ocean to ocean. 
But you then came here more especially and directly to 
repel an invasion that was being made in this free state by 
a hostile army whose avowed object was the dissolution of 
the Union you were seeking to preserve, and which strove 
to perpetuate the institution of human slavery which your 
suecess would abolish and destroy forever. Here by your 
courage, skill, bravery and heroic determination, the rebel 
schemes were defeated, and today you have returned to 
commemorate this sad but important event by the erection 
and unveiling of a monument to the honor and memory of 
your comrades whose dust mingles with the dust of this 
ground. 

“*T ean hardly comprehend how, or why, I am honored 
with the privilege of addressing you on this occasion, for 


182 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


I can say nothing but what has been better said before by 
somebody else, except it is that one of the prominent 
features of your monument is the figure of Tammany, the 
Delaware Indian chief, who is said never to have had his 
equal as such. During the Revolutionary War his enthu- 
siastic admirers among the whites dubbed him a saint and 
he was established under the name of St. Tammany, the 
Patron Saint of America. 

‘‘The Delaware Indians, of whom Tammany was chief, 
were once a numerous and powerful tribe and were masters 
of and occupied the whole territory lying between the 
Hudson and Susquehanna rivers. They were a warlike 
race, and, like all other primitive people who existed on 
the face of the earth, were at perpetual war with their 
neighbors and were ever ready to battle for the lands they 
elaimed, and for the graves of their ancestors. They and 
all the other Indians of this continent, whether living in 
the dense forests, on the vast prairie plains or in the fast- 
nesses of the mountains, enjoyed liberty in its largest and 
most liberal sense. They loved their freedom and believed 
that when the Great Spirit made this country he made it 
free and placed his red children here to enjoy it. 

‘“‘The power of the Delawares was finally completely 
broken and the people subjugated by the more powerful 
and proud Iroquois of New York. I am not here to give 
you a lecture on the Indian problem, the solution of which 
agitates so many good minds of the present day, or to 
enumerate the causes which have led to their gradual 
extinction, or to excite your sympathy by rehearsing the 
wrongs, eruelties, injustice and many violations of faith 
they have endured and suffered at the hands of the pale- 
faces, although as one of them I naturally and emphatically 
sympathize deeply with them. The two races have ever 
been antagonistic, though all writers agree that the Indians. 
always received the new comers with the most open-handed 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 183 


hospitality. At first also the Indian looked upon the pale- 
face as a god from another world. Soon through the antag- 
onism of the two races, hatred revealed itself and true 
friendship and brotherly confidence ceased to exist. Then 
deadly hostilities commenced, continuing ever since, almost 
without cessation. In the Indian bosom was then planted to 
grow fiercer and fiercer with time, an implacable and un- 
conquerable aversion, amounting almost to hatred, for the 
eivilization and Christianity of the new-comer. Their hos- 
tility was so persistent that it soon became apparent that 
their continued presence constituted an almost insurmount- 
able barrier to the advancement of the eastern progressive 
and aggressive civilization and the successful planting 
and dissemination of that religion which teaches ‘‘peace 
on earth and good will toward all men,’’ but which, alas, 
was not to extend to the Indian until the lamp of their 
national life was nearly extinguished. 

‘“To this doomed race did the chief Tammany belong. 
He was a brave warrior, a mighty hunter and a wise coun- 
cilor. Very little indeed was known of him. Yet it is 
written of him that ‘He was in the highest degree endowed 
with wisdom, virtue, prudence, charity, affability, meek- 
ness, hospitality,’ in short with every good and noble 
qualification that a human being may possess. He was 
then supposed to have had intercourse with the ‘great and 
good spirit,’ for he was a stranger to everything that was 
bad. 

‘*Tt is not known when or where or how he died, but pre- 
sumably in one of the wars in which his people were en- 
gaged. His memory was ever reverenced among his people, 
and his name is still perpetuated among the whites by the 
powerful society in New York which bears his name. I 
believe that if ever there was a good Indian he was one, and 
that, too. before he was a dead one. This monument, too, 
while it transmits the memory of heroes who fell here, also 


184 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE TROQUOIS 


perpetuates his name, in this beautiful monumental field, 
where was fought perhaps the most earnest battle of the 
war, and one which nearly decided the fate of the Union. 
This field and this beautiful valley were indeed the - 
Thermopyle of America—defended not by the Spartan 
king and his unconquerable heroes who never turned their 
backs to the invading millions, but by American patriots, 
as brave, daring and as fully imbued with a healthful, 
lofty and patriotic martial spirit, as any warrior band that 
ever marched to a field of slaughter. Their watchwords 
were, ‘Union, Liberty and the Starry Flag forever?’ They 
contended stoutly, with masterly constancy and unyield- 
ing tenacity, for the maintenance of the principles enun- 
ciated in the imperishable Declaration of Independence, 
the godlike truths of which their fathers had established 
after many years of doubt and suffering and many hard- 
fought battles. These wise fathers had electrified and 
horrified the civilized world when they announced their 
political belief, unheard of before, ‘that all men are 
created equal,’ and endowed by their Creator with certain 
‘inalienable rights,’ among which are ‘life, liberty and 
the pursuit of happiness.’ 

‘*On this field upon which we this moment stand, not 
only were the lives and liberty of the immediate partici- 
pants in danger, but the lives and liberty of millions of 
human beings not here; and what was more important 
than all, the life and liberty of the Nation was imperiled 
and at stake. Here and yonder you stood like a wall of 
adamant and resisted the vast hordes who would have done 
all this wrong. At every point you met them with a firm, 
unshaken determination to do or die. Your serried ranks 
were thinned and broken by the savage minie, and the 
howling, shrieking and screeching shot and shell, whose 
infernal noise mercifully deafened the cries of the wounded 
and dying around you. The earth moaned and groaned 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 185 


as it swallowed the blood of the contestants. Yet, as if 
Mother Earth had here a plantation of the mythical 
dragon’s teeth, other soldiers and comrades seemed to 
spring out of her bosom, refilling your depleted ranks and 
reforming your shattered lines, reviving your nearly 
exhausted energies and strengthening your hopes of final 
success. But so oft repeated were these scenes of bloody 
earnage on that eventful day, it appeared at times as 
though every man must march into the jaws of Death 
before the dreadful contest could be decided. Physicat 
endurance has its limits: bright hopes had almost suc- 
eumbed to black despair, Liberty was about to shriek even 
louder than when brave Kosciuszko fell, when the Supreme 
Arbiter of Nations and the God of Battles: dropped his 
wand and gave to you the field of battle. Peace forever 
be to those who fell! 

‘“The battle of Gettysburg has been written of by many 
as the most important and decisive of the war. Perhaps 
it was—I cannot judge; but on the same day that you were 
executing on this field such wonderful and unparalleled 
feats of military strength, courage and dauntless heroism, 
equally as important and exciting transactions were being 
enacted in and about the Gibraltar of the West, on the 
Mississippi. There that invincible strategic warrior, Gen- 
eral U. S. Grant, was closing his anacondian coil on the 
City of Vicksburg, resulting the next day, the ever mem-- 
orable 4th of July, in the surrender of Lieutenant Genera! 
Pemberton with his entire army and the city of Vicksburg. 
Then, as has been beautifully expressed, ‘the waters of the 
Mississippi again flowed unvexed by hostile forces from its 
source to its mouth’—the would-be confederacy severed 
and the field of future operations cireumscribed.”’ 

“<This, too, was virtually important. Yet, neither Gettys- 
burg nor Vicksburg closed the war. The battles of Look- 
out Mountain, Missionary Ridge, Atlanta, Nashville, the 


186 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


‘Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, Five Forks, and 
Petersburg, and Sherman’s March to the Sea, were yet to 
be executed ere the field of Appomattox Court House could 
loom up to witness the closing act of the gigantic conflict. 
At many of these points, you my comrades, were actively 
engaged. Upon many of these fields you have left com- 
panions who had stood shoulder to shoulder with you in 
battle, shared with you the danger and responsibilities of 
the picket-line, tented and bivouacked with you, in winter 
and summer, in storm and sunshine, and who did not 
return with you, when the war closed, to the homes they 
had left. It is to their memory and honor, to their unself- 
ish, patriotic virtue, that these monuments are properly 
erected, dedicated and consecrated. To the survivors on 
any field they are speaking reminders of struggles endured, 
not for glory, but for their country’s good; reminders of 
the principles they contended for, and of the necessity 
burdened upon them, of indoctrinating into the minds of 
their children as they grow up, and of their neighbors who 
come from other lands, the sacredness of the charge and 
the inestimable inheritance they have left at so great a 
eost of life and treasure. 

‘‘T have a foolish belief that all true and honest patriots, 
whether they labor in the civil or military service who die 
in their career, do not cease their connection with the 
onward march of their country. Hence, as a matter of 
honor and justice to all such, I would that every American 
child could be taught thoroughly the history of his country 
from its discovery and settlement onward. They should 
be taught to comprehend and understand how first the 
pioneers and early settlers grappled in a deadly conflict 
with the aborigines of this continent to wrest from them 
their country, and to make it a land ‘flowing with milk 
and honey’ and the wilderness ‘to blossom as the rose.” 
How again, while yet in the infancy of their growth 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 187 


towards a national manhood, they battled with their own 
mother country for the causes so eloquently and clearly 
set forth in the immortal Declaration of Independence to 
which I have already referred, and for the maintenance of 
which declaration they placed their ‘reliance on the pro- 
tection of Divine Providence,’ mutually pledging to each 
other their lives, fortunes and sacred honor.’ 

“‘Passing from that time through minor though import- 
ant wars, we may gradually bring them to the last great 
struggle in which you, my comrades, were prominent 
actors, to preserve the unity of the republic, maintain the 
sanctity of the flag, save the life of the nation and to make 
a truth of the theory long since announced to the world, 
‘that all men are created equal;’ for you freed four mil-. 
lions of slaves who were held in bondage to their fellow- 
men and made them citizens equal with you. Fully under- 
standing and comprehending all this, it will be their plain 
duty to preserve the country and government you helped 
to save, and by their wisdom to carry forward its aims by 
every means consistent with justice and the general Consti- 
tution.’’ 

“‘The present commercial industrial and agricultural 
prosperity of the whole country, the universal spread of 
education and the consequent diffusion of general knowl- 
edge, the freedom of speech and of the press, the free and 
untrammeled discussion on all political subjects and theo- 
ries of government, the unprecedented development and 
growth in every branch of the arts and sciences, and the 
unrestrained and unrestricted exercise allowed in all civil 
and religious liberties, unknown in any other country of 
the world, are so many safe guarantees that these United 
States will never again seek to indulge itself in fratricidal 
blood. 

“‘T will now close by repeating with your permission @ 
few lines written of Tammany a long time ago: 


188 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


“¢ ‘Immortal Tammany of Indian race, 
Great in the field and foremost in the chase, 
No puny saint was he, with fasting pale. 
He climbed the mountain and he swept the vale, 
Rushed through the torrent with unequalled might; 
Your ancient saints would tremble at the sight; 
Caught the swift boat and the swifter deer with ease, 
And worked a thousand miracles like these. 
To public views he added private ends, 
And loved his country most, and next his friends; 
With courage long he strove to ward the blow; 
(Courage we all respect even in a foe) 
And when each effort he in vain had tried, 
Kindled the flame in which he bravely died; 
To Tammany, let the full horn go round; 
His fame let every honest tongue resound; 
With him let every generous patriot vie, 
To live in freedom or with honor die.’ ’’ 


R 


1 
u 


MARTHA HOYT PARKE 


R 


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7] 


PARIKE 


NRY 


} 
Son of William and brother of I 


NICHOLSON Hi 


Photo taken 1892. 


ly. 


1 
4 


Wife of Nicholson, daughter of Jonathan Hoyt. 


Photo taken 1896 


LAST GEAND SACHEM OF THE IkOQUOIS 189 


CHAPTER XVII 


THE HOUSE OF BROTHER NICHOLSON. 


The written life story of Ely S. Parker will always 
remain incomplete. Probably no one now living can supply 
the missing fragments that would be so full of interest to 
us of the present day. Much of value would be lost, how- 
ever, by omitting to mention briefly the other brothers and 
the sister, all of whom were ever dear to the General, 
despite his broader interests and his continued absence 
from his home reservation. 

Isaac Newton Parker seems to have been of a roving dis- 
position. He had a polished education, and was a keen 
student of fine literature. He was generally spoken of as 
Newton or ‘‘Newt.’’ He served in the Union Army during 
the Rebellion and afterwards became a teacher in the West. 
His great failure was intemperance, that brought with it 
unreliability. His fault was ever a source of sorrow to his 
family and a constant element of annoyance to Ely, to 
whom generally fell the task of ‘‘getting him a job.’’ His 
last labors were in Montana, where he contracted a fatal 
malady. He fell dead from his horse as he journeyed over 
the prairie and was buried on the plains near the spot 
where he died. 

Levi always was a farmer and remained on his farm at 
the Tonawanda reservation. He was well respected and 
industrious to the day of his death. His children were 
Frank, Fred, Laura and Otto. All are living today at 
Tonawanda and all have large and productive farms. Otto 
is a chief, and Laura married Jacob Doctor, one of the 
head Tonawanda sachems. Laura Doctor or Ga-a-gwi-de, 
Sun Follower, is the ‘‘name bearer’’ of the family at the 
present time. She is ‘‘ho-ya-neh.’’ 

Besides Ely, the children of William Parker who achieved 
most perhaps were Carrie and Nicholson. Both were grad- 
uates of Albany State Normal School and both were ambi- 


190 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


tious to maintain the ancient ideals of the family and of 
the nation. Perhaps they had better opportunity than 
Levi and Newton. Spencer, because of a tribal political 
blunder, exiled himself but was restored in after years 
through the pleas of his father. 

Carrie Parker married John Mount Pleasant, for many 
years the leading mind of the Tuscaroras. Her commod- 
ious home was on the Tuscarora reservation near Niagara 
Falls. Her fame as a hostess was hereditary. Her mother 
had bred the gentle art of gracious entertainment in her 
daughter. Carrie Mount Pleasant’s home was for years a 
place where honored guests were cared for. Tourists, men 
and women of culture and refinement, noblemen and titled 
ladies from Europe, American men in public life, generals, 
congressmen, and citizens in all the humbler walks of life, 
came to the Mount Pleasant home when they came ;to 
Niagara. She was long known as the ‘‘Queen of the 
Senecas,’’ or the ‘‘Peacemaker.’’ 

Her native name was at first Gahona; her husband’s name 
was Dagayahdont, ‘‘Falling Woods.’’ At a tribal ceremony 
after her marriage, Carrie Parker Mount Pleasant was 
given a new tribal name and title. She received the ances- 
tral name, that had of right been transmitted through her 
mother’s line for generations. It was none other than Ji- 
gon-sa-seh, commonly spelled Ge-go-sa-seh, and meaning 
““The Wild Cat’’ or ‘‘The Lynx.’’ It was rightfully her 
mother’s name and title, though Elizabeth Parker was com- 
monly called Ga-i-ya-kuh, though her official name was Ga- 
ont-gwut-twus. We have told the story of Ji-gon-sa-seh in 
a former chapter. General Parker in writing of his sister’s 
name said: ‘‘. It was once borne by the last ruler 
of the Neutral Nation, who was a woman. It was during 
her reign that the Hurons proposed to violate the neutrality 
of her territory in their wars with the Iroquois Con- 
federacy. She disclosed the conspiracy to the Senecas who 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 191 


punished the Neutral Nation by exterminating it. Wild 
Cat they adopted and made her the equal of their sachems 
and chiefs and when she died they retained her name 
among them. I have, however, never heard of it being 
borne by any woman since her day, until it was bestowed 
upon my sister by the sachems and chiefs of the Seneca 
nation on account of her conspicuous character, connections 
and abilities.’’ 

Of all the lives of members of the Parker family of the 
grandfather generation, I am most familiar with that of 
Nicholson, for he was my grandfather. From his books 
and records and from his lips I have learned most about 
*“*Uncle Ely’’ and ‘‘the old days.”’ 

Nicholson, or ‘‘Nick’’ as grandfather was known to his 
intimate friends, passed the greater part of his life on the 
Cattaraugus reservation. He was a man of great energy, 
and worked with method and regularity. He never allowed 
Sunday work on his farm and never would permit a drop 
of liquor on his premises. He was a true ‘‘son of the 
prophet’’ in this respect. His industry and sobriety, too. 
may have been due in some measure to the influence of Rev. 
and Mrs. Asher Wright, the sainted missionaries who gave 
their very lives to the Senecas. He was first employed as an 
interpreter, printer and clerk by Dr. Wright. With him 
he translated the Bible into Seneca. 

Dr. Wright wooed his wife by correspondence. She was 
a Vermont Sheldon and her appearance on the Buffalo 
Creek reservation was the first sight Dr. Wright ever had 
of his bride. Both had been convinced, however, that they 
had been called to the same great work, and both were con- 
tent in the love that came with the first meeting. With Mrs. 
Wright came her niece Martha Hoyt, of Massachusetts 
stock. Then began another romance. The Indian inter- 
preter, my grandfather, wooed and won the niece. During 
Dr. Wright’s lifetime my grandfather and grandmother 


192 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


lived at the Mission House at Cattaraugus, where all their 
children were born. Soon after Dr. Wright’s death in 1876 
Mrs. Wright moved across the farm line and into the newly 
built house, occupied by grandfather Nicholson. 

It was a wonderful home in many ways and until their 
maturity the boys and girls of the family found a happy 
home there. Three of the boys had helped build the house. 
Frank, and Fred, my father, were old enough to use a ham- 
mer, saw and square with accuracy, while Albert, though 
a small boy, was able to help considerably. Minnie, at this 
time, went away to a ‘‘select school’’ in Rye, New York, 
as the protégée of her Uncle Ely. Sherman was then but 
a tiny lad. 

The farm, part of which had heen purchased of an Indian 
named Two Guns, was an ideal ‘‘boys’ farm.’’ It had—. 
and yet has—a fine orchard that produces the best kind 
of apples; it has good garden soil, good pasturage, and a 
brook where you can catch trout, if you are a trout fisher- 
man and patient. The farm is divided by the main or Lake 
road, and lies between two large creeks, though each is 
beyond the farm line. Cattaraugus creek is ‘‘across the 
road’’ and ‘‘under the hill.’’ Everything is handy on the 
farm there. Next door is the Mission House where good 
missionaries live; on the other side is the national fair 
ground. A stone’s throw down the road is the Government 
medical dispensary, while across the road is the tribal ceme- 
tery. A stage route traverses the road. Members of the 
family by this rare situation get the daily paper; can be 
married and preached to, attend the fair, get sick, call a 
doctor, die and be buried, with all the rites of the church, 
without even leaving the neighborhood,—so ‘* civilized’’ has 
the reservation become. 

Adjoining the dispensary property is the Thomas Indian 
School, which was started by my grandmother years ago. 
T like to give her credit for its foundation, for the trials 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 193 


and cares of looking after seventeen Indian orphans in her 
own busy home led her aunt, Mrs. Wright, to enlist the 
sympathy of an eminent Quaker named Philip Thomas. 
He gave one hundred dollars to start a real orphan asylum, 
so in gratitude it was named after him, by my grandmother. 
His example induced others to give of their means. Today 
a magnificent State institution stands as a monument to my 
grandmother’s compassion and confusion in caring for 
seventeen children who could not talk, nor eat, English 
style, but who could ery in all languages. 

It was to this farm house that Uncle Ely made a visit 
once or twice each year. Over the mantel in the sitting- 
room, in his honor, hung his picture in full military uni- 
form as Colonel. Over it hung his sword. The room was 
remarkable in other ways. In it hung the heirlooms of the 
family, that is, such as could be exhibited. There were 
quaint Indian trophies, beaded sashes, tomahawks, scalping- 
knives that had seen service, old flint-locks and pictures of 
famous members of the family all in Seneca regalia. There 
were large oil paintings of my grandmother’s ancestors, a 
erayon portrait of Asher Wright and near it a wonderful 
engraving of ‘Christian, the Pilgrim.’’ All the events of 
““Pilerim’s Progress’’ were illustrated in small cireular 
engravings all around the picture. 

I want to describe this room because I first remember 
seeing ‘‘Uncle Ely’’ there. He always sat in a big walnut 
arm-chair by the front window. My grandmother always 
kept a crash towel with roses embroidered on it over the 
back of the chair, because the gold thread in the brocad- 
‘got into people’s clothes.’’ It was the ‘‘best chair,’’ and 
came from Boston. She always rubbed off the claws of the 
bottom of the chair’s legs, too. I remember the claws 
elutched wooden balls, because I once dreamed the chair 
chased me and threw all those balls at me—and more too. 


194 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


I always called it ‘‘Uncle Ely’s chair.’’ He was brave to 
sit in that chair, I thought. I never did. 

In one corner of the room near the dining-room door was 
a ‘‘what-not.’’ It was my grandmother’s set of curio 
shelves. On the top shelf was the ‘‘winter bouquet’’ of 
autumn plants, leaves and grasses. Rising above all was 
a tall sheaf of wheat. At the bottom of the sheaf were 
sprays of bitter-sweet, everlasting, milkweed stalks and 
sprays of oak and maple leaves, colored by the frost. The 
lower shelves held minerals from the farm and neighboring 
creek gorges. There were fossils, concretions and freaks, 
a horse-shoe or two, knots, gnarls and vegetable monstrosi- 
ties. On one shelf were coins from many countries, medals, 
ores and Indian silver ornaments. On another were the 
Jargest ears of corn, mingled with bird nests and faney 
Indian beadwork and baskets. On the lowest shelf of all 
were Indian arrow and spearheads, stone axes, polished 
stone gorgets, fragments of broken pottery, pipes and a 
piece of skull, all picked up on the farm. 

All the boys and girls, brothers, sisters and cousins, 
would lie on the bear-skin rug and look at that wonder- 
ful ‘‘what-not.’’ We would wonder if we would ever know 
as much as grandma, ever be as good hunters as ‘‘Gramp’’ 
or be as great as Uncle Ely, and wear a sword like that 
on the wall. That room was my grandmother’s to rile. 
Nicholson, my grandfather, might receive his honored 
guests there, but his own room adjoined the big kitchen. 
There he had his tall ‘‘secretary’’ filled with papers and 
books. He never forgot his books with all his busy farm life, 
and although for many years he was a ‘“‘chief’’ in the 
capacity of ‘‘clerk of the Nation,’’ or as the greater repub- 
lie would say, ‘‘Secretary of State,’’ he was ever a student. 
The Seneca nation, be it known, is a republic, self-governing 
and recognized by the State of New York and by the United 
States. It had revolted from the ‘‘chiefs’ government’’ in 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE Iz£OQUOIS 195 


1848 and set itself up as a democratic state. However, the 
older system of aristocracy continued as an undercurrent, 
and grandfather was honored by having his name changed 
from Gai-e-wah-gowa to Gyantwaka, a name and title 
once borne by his celebrated half-great-grandfather, Corn- 
planter, of historical fame. 

Grandfather every evening would refresh his mind with 
some classical volume. Before I was nine years old he had 
read Milton’s ‘‘ Paradise Lost’’ to me and had done his best 
to make me understand it. He read to me ‘‘King Lear,”’ 
and ‘‘Midsummer Night’s Dream,’’ and had even tried to 
teach me algebra. At the age of seventy he went through 
his mathematics again. There was some rivalry between 
my grandmother and my grandfather in this early attempt 
to educate me. ‘‘Don’t put such useless ideas in that 
child’s head,’’ she would say, ‘‘read him something sen- 
sible.’’ Then she would take from her own shelves, ‘‘Com- 
mon Things We Should Know,’’ ‘‘The Book of Why,’’ and 
““The Primer of the Stars.’? When it came to Scriptures 
grandfather would read Isaiah and Proverbs to me, while 
grandmother always recited the Psalms from memory. She 
knew most of them but years after at the age of eighty, 
started learning some she had neglected. 

The big kitchen with its cheerful fire was the general 
meeting-room for the Indian neighbors who ‘‘just dropped 
in.’’ Real callers of course got in the immaculately clean 
sitting-room. The old men who did not meet grandfather 
at the barn or on the big ‘“‘horse-block’’ platform came in 
that big kitchen. A kitchen floor of fiction is always snowy 
white; this real kitchen floor was not. It was my grand- 
father’s fault and he never heard the last of it. He laid 
it of elm timber and then to make it look nice had rubbed 
coal oil, linseed and whale oil into it. The result was a 
floor that always looked brown and stained. The discolor- 
ation never could be scrubbed out and I sometimes have 


196 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


thought that grandfather learned his algebra over again 
just so he could figure out how much it had cost him in 
brooms, hired girl help, pails, soap, sal-soda and mops to 
remedy his oil idea of treating floors. It was always clean, 
but never looked so. 

It was in this big kitchen that I heard much of the lore 
of my ancestors. From his bedroom grandfather would 
take out the family records that told how his father had 
fought in the War of 1812. He would show me Uncle Ely’s 
war letters, and once he showed me an envelope full of 
newspaper clippings about himself. Once he said he had 
been a lecturer and to prove it he read an old lecture and 
showed me the handbills he used at Victor and Canan- 
daigua, way back in 1854. Years afterwards I found those 
old documents; some others had been destroyed by unap- 
preciative hands. 

To this home of his brother, filled with sons and grand- 
children, would come our great Uncle Ely. Usually when 
he came he would bring a suit of clothes for my grand- 
father, made in exact pattern of his own; and a big satchel 
of presents for every one else. I must have been seven 
years old when I first saw Uncle Ely. I did not know he 
had come, and rushing into the sitting room, I called out 
‘‘Gramp!’’ Then I fell back in dismay, for there were two 
‘‘Gramps,’’ dressed alike and to my startled eyes, each an 
exact counterpart, but when they spoke I noticed that their 
voices were slightly different. 

While our distinguished uncle was there, all the Indians 
of note would come to greet him. Then there would be a 
time of story-telling and reminiscences, that grandfather 
would relate to me when all the guests had departed, or 
when later we would drive together with Flora or Nell, the 
faithful old mares. 

All the Parkers of the ‘‘grandfather’’ generation had 
an hereditary love for fine horses. Uncle Ely never was 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 197 


without a fine span of dashing colts, and for many years, 
up to about 1875, my grandfather trained or bred his 
steeds for him. Sorrels, blacks and bays were the favorites. 
In many of Uncle Ely’s letters to grandfather he expresses 
his solicitude for his ‘‘colts.’” There were always good 
horses on the farm in the grandfather days, and a pair of 
mules that could do some wonderful endurance work in 
plowing or haulage—also kicking and balking. 

The prestige of being a good family of horse-traders was 
lost by my Uncle William, the son of Spencer Parker who 
married my aunt Minnie. He never made a good horse 
trade. The horses he got in trade always looked fine on 
first sight, but that in buying them Uncle William lacked 
the powers of second sight, was quite evident. The doughty 
steeds were halt, maimed or blind. Some of them had a gait 
like a rabbit and others walked with their front feet and 
dragged their rear limbs after them like the wooden teeth 
of a corn row-marker. It took my cousin Carl to drive 
those balky. walky, stalky steeds. At the first sign of eccen- 
tricity they got a series of hickory hints that came as 
rapidly as if shot from a gatling gun. Soon, very soon, 
those abnormal animals learned to behave—for Carl. Yet 
the horse-trading instinct had gone. Civilization does 
eliminate lots of judgment—and as a blind orchardist with 
a relentless pruning-knife trims the branches of the family 
tree, to shape it without considering the virtues or the 
products of the new twigs that project beyond the line of 
convention. 

My grandfather was ever a pioneer of progress among 
his people. He, with Noah Two Guns, had the first stump- 
puller, and they formed a stock company. The first Deer- 
ing self-binder used on the reservation was his and indeed 
all the best farm machinery needful for his purposes was 
acquired. Unlike many of the Indians he kept his ma- 
chinery with great care, never allowing it to lie out in the 


198 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


weather to rust. Drills, corn-shellers, fanning-mills, and 
feed-choppers are in as good order today as thirty years 
ago, save the natural wear on paint and edge. His son 
Sherman, who ran the farm after grandfather’s death, was 
careful with the old tools. 

Perhaps this love of good farming and good farm tools 
gave him his interest in the ‘‘Iroquois Agricultural Soci- 
ety,’’ the fair association, of which he was an officer for 
many years, sometimes as president and other times as 
secretary. It was a great exhibition in his day, and the 
whites came from miles around to see the ‘‘Indian fair.’’ 
Wagons and horses were literally lined along the fences for 
two miles and on either side of the road. Grandfather had 
an eye for business. He had a blacksmith shop on his farm 
which as I have said adjoined the fair grounds. 

Beside being clerk of the nation, United States inter- 
preter, census agent, marshal of the nation, orator, agri- 
culturist and civil engineer, my grandfather was the 
drum major of the Seneca Indian Silver Cornet Band. He 
was a versatile and useful citizen of the Seneca Republic. 
Like his other brother Ely, he never could completely 
accept civilization’s teachings or wholly neglect the philoso- 
phy of his fathers. Seeing true virtue in each, according 
to his mood he argued for each. Many Indians have this 
same characteristic and often appear vacillating and un- 
certain in judgment when in reality the quality is merely 
the involuntary mental struggle between hereditary impres- 
sions and proclivities and those acquired. Until civilization 
crushes out all of the old instincts. or wisdom brings with 
it a strongly balanced judgment, Indians will ever be at 
moral sea; for character, point of view, methods and phi- 
losophy, like religion, may be historical and ethnic. In the 
ethnological sense would it not be difficult for an English- 
man to rebuild his whole mental and moral nature on the 
teachings of Buddha and to imitate the manners and phi- 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 199 


losophy of the Hindoos? Equally difficult is it for the 
Indian to base his concepts of legal procedure and social 
relations on the civic outgrowths of the Norman and 
Saxon people, or acquire a religion that was nursed by the 
Hebrews, educated by the Romans and converted by the 
Anglo-Saxons and readjusted to ‘‘modern’’ economic 
notions. There ever will be confusion, until in the course 
of cosmic alchemy all bloods revert to an original strain, 
like Darwin’s pigeons. How dreary and hideously uniform 
the world will be then! There will be no mental flint and 
steel. It will all be flint or all steel. There will be a salt 
and stagnant sea. Again the earth will be without form 
and void and all will be sea—the rivers from many valleys 
will have run dry and the valleys with the mountains will 
be submerged. 

My grandfather was a tall, dignified man of five feet 
eleven inches, this being an inch and a half taller than 
Uncle Ely. Among women he was dignified but courteous, 
among men he was jovial and popular. His conduct and 
conversation was always chaste and he despised anything 
profane. He was ever proud of his blood and ancestry, and 
unlike his distinguished brother, often appeared at celebra- 
tions and historical exercises dressed in the full regalia of a 
Seneca chief. He so appeared at the dedication of the 
Mary Jemison council house at Letchworth Park in 1879, 
at the unveiling of the Red Jacket monuments at Canoga 
and Buffalo, and at the various ceremonial and adoption 
councils on the reservation. When taken to task for emu- 
lating his ancestors he said, ‘‘I can be as much a gentleman 
in the costume of my fathers as is a Scotch lord in costume 
celebrating his native events. Even Englishmen affect 
their old-time dress on old-time oceasions.’’ 

As a matter of fact the curse of the Indian Wild West 
show has led many good persons to discourage Indians from 
wearing their native costumes since it seemed an indication 


200 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


that education had never done any good and that after all 
the Indian was ‘‘an irreclaimable savage.’’ 

But for memory’s sake the old tomahawk, scalping-knife 
and flint-lock, the beaded sashes and feather cap all hung 
in the big sitting-room and helped the children imagine 
wonderful things when grandfather told his evening story 
about ‘‘old times.’’ Oh those grandfather tales, of legends 
of his hunting, of traditions of his boyhood days! Those 
tales helped to mold the minds of his grandchildren. 

Naturally a breeder of good horses had to have a good _ 
hostler to care for them, so grandfather had a colored 
“‘eoachman,’’ whose wife was a gypsy. The black man’s 
name was Henry Baltimore and his wife’s Mary Polo. She 
got mad at me once because I laughed when she stepped 
backward while scrubbing the porch and sat down in her 
mop-pail. She chased me with the mop and hit me with it, 
so I got wet just as she did, but she didn’t laugh—she | 
swore in Romany. Mary and Henry lived across the 
road in a two-story cabin and every now and then in the 
noisy night old John Kennedy would come from Gowanda, 
the trading town, and just to show his spite or knowledge 
of tradition would shout: ‘‘Injun fust, white man nex’, dog 
nex’, nigger lasht—Whoop.’’ The next hostler wasn’t a 
negro. He was George Shongo, an old Seneca, who lived in 
the back basement and who whittled out odd trinkets. My 
grandmother just kept him because he was poor and had 
no place to go. He could clean the stables and curry the 
horses, but would much rather make colored plumes from 
chicken feathers, or sew on fancy vests. Because he could 
whittle out fiddles and carve false faces, he was known as 
Ha-gon-so-nis, or ‘‘False-face maker.’ Once he used to 
drink rum, but my grandmother converted him to pepper 
tea. 

Our next hostler was more of a fisherman in his brand of 
veracity. He was my grandmother’s brother who once was 


» li ~ a 
ig i eee a cae 


FREDERICK ELY PARKER ARTHUR C. PARKER 


Son of Nicholson and nephew of General Parker—1912. Sen of Frederick—1918. 


LAST GEAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 201 


a well-known horse-trainer. He had formerly worked for 
A. T. Stewart and for Robert Bonner. It was he, he 
claimed, who trained Maud 8S. However, he had fallen back- 
ward from his sulky and had his head kicked by the horse 
that followed. His mind was never normal after that time, 
except on horse matters. He was an expert horse doctor, 
fed the horses burdock leaves to keep them in prime and 
was useful in many other ways. His stories of his adven- 
tures were wonderful hyperboles but he told them over and 
over to every listener he could find. When he died and 
was buried in the Indian cemetery, I carved a horse on the 
grave-stake. His name was Seth Hoyt. 

This chapter might be lengthened to include many a 
romance, but our aim has been only to picture in it a view 
of reservation environment and link it to the story of 
General Parker. 

My grandfather died in 1892. Two brothers died the 
year before him, his sister Carrie died the same year, and 
Uncle Ely was left alone, of all the Parkers of the grand- 
father generation. 

It was to this farm and to this brother, with his great 
family, that Uncle Ely so often came bringing cheer and 
sunshine, good stories and inspirations. It was to this 
farm that many distinguished men and women of a genera- 
tion ago came—writers, scientists, missionaries, newspaper 
men, tourists, philanthropists. In this home and the Mis- 
sion across the fence—in this family, of the grandfather 
generation—grew and were nursed the forces that did most 
to bring civilization to the Senecas of New York and to 
save their lands from the spoiler’s cunning. 


202 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


CHAPTER XVIII 


THE BONES OF RED JACKET 


In my great-grandfather’s day, when Red Jacket, fam- 
ished by his long journey from Buffalo village came to 
Tonawanda, he often stopped at William Parker’s home 
for his evening meal and lodging. Here he could consult 
Blacksmith, Sos-he-o-wa and the other Tonawanda chiefs— 
besides Elizabeth was a Wolf and therefore he was her 
brother. 

Ely Parker as a tiny lad, still in his babyhood, fre- 
quently saw the great Red Jacket and was taught to call 
him ‘‘grandfather.’’ Not all the Tonawandas liked Red 
Jacket; his own debauchery, his ambition to be a sachem 
and the slander of Handsome Lake, the prophet, had done 
much to prejudice all the people against him. Red Jacket 
had his friends; his clansmen were compelled to give him 
food and shelter, but he was fully aware of the lingering 
hatred that existed in the hearts of many. General Parker, 
well knowing the hostility of the followers of Handsome 
Lake to Red Jacket, writes in explanation: 


Red Jacket was a chief and an orator. His extraordinary intel- 
lectual ability and power of speech made him a great chief among 
the Indians, but he never attained the rank of sachem, although he 
schemed assiduously for it, which was a fatal bar to his success, as 
it was a fundamental rule of the League that the office was to seek 
the man and not the man the office. Red Jacket’s conceit that his 
power could override the unwritten laws of the League was a stumb- 
ling block which ultimately caused his downfall and embittered him 
to his dying day. He carried his trouble to Washington but a 
representation by the chiefs and sachems of the Senecas that he 
had been deposed, was no longer a chief and hence not entitled to 
be heard, had preceded him to Washington and when he reached 
there and found himself discredited and learned that the charm of his 
voice had lost its weight, his proud heart was lacerated and he returned 
to his home a broken-down man. The breach with his people was 
partially healed before his death, but he was a disappointed man. 


LAST GEAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 203 


Red Jacket had done much for Buffalo, but it was many 
years before that city awakened to its obligation. For 
years his bones had reposed in the little mission cemetery- 
For years his grave was unmarked. The first tombstone 
he had was erected by an actor, but vandals chipped it 
away for souvenirs. 

In that same cemetery lay the bones of Mary Jemison, 
the white woman of the Genesee. In that same field of 
buried memories were the great heroes of the War of 1812, 
captains and sachems of the Senecas. There lay the noble 
Farmer’s Brother, Captain Pollard, with his wife and 
child; Little Billy, one time Washington’s guide; Young 
King, Destroy Town, Twenty Canoes, William Jacket and 
the renowned Governor Blacksnake. There in that ceme- 
tery were the mortal remains of the Senecas of the loved 
Do-sho-weh-gey, the Basswood land, as the Buffalo reserve 
was Called. 

The Senecas by vile fraud were driven from this loved 
spot. With bitter hearts they went, leaving the land of 
memories, the bones of their honored dead, and much of 
their own living spirit, behind. Every human sentiment 
was outraged by the Ogden Land Company; and unable 
now to revenge, the Senecas choked back their natural rage 
and went on to Cattaraugus, the Waters where Odors Arise, 
and down to the valley of the O-hi-yu, or Beautiful River, 
as the Allegheny country was called. Then the cemetery 
became a pasture where vagrant cattle roamed. The 
Senecas had been led to believe this sacred acre had been 
reserved, but it seems that the title had somehow been 
passed over to the land conspirators. For years after the 
Senecas came there to weep and to bring flowers, but as 
the older people passed away the cemetery was neglected. 

In the year 1884 a movement was started to re-inter the 
remains of Red Jacket. Much interest had been created 
as the movement grew and General Parker was among the 


204 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


first to concern himself with this plan to honor his dis- 
tinguished clan grandfather. In the course of events he 
wrote Mr. Bryant the letter quoted below: 


No. 300 MuLBerry STREET, NEw York, May 8, 1884. 
W. C. Bryant, Esq., Buffalo, N. Y. 


Dear Siz:—Yours of the 25th ult. was duly received. I am very 
much obliged to Mr. Marshall for mentioning to you the circum- 
stance of my having written him on the subject of the re-interment 
of Red Jacket’s remains. My principal object was to obtain an 
assurance of the genuineness of the remains. This I did because 
I was informed many years ago that Red Jacket’s grave had been 
surreptitiously opened and the bones taken therefrom into the City 
of Buffalo, where some few Indians, under the leadership of Daniel 
Two Guns, a Seneca chief, recovered them a few hours after they 
were taken. They were never re-interred, but were securely hoxed 
up and secreted, first in one Indian’s house and then in another. 
At length I saw by the papers that they were now lodged in the 
vault of some bank in Buffalo. I wished only to be satisfied that 
the remains which the Buffalo Historical Society proposed to re-inter 
were really those of the celebrated chief Red Jacket. That was 
all. Whatever views I may have entertained respecting this scheme, 
which is not new, is now of no consequence, for your letter advises 
me that the subject has been fully discussed with the survivors of 
the families of the departed chiefs, and also of the Council of the 
Seneca Nation, who have all assented to the project of re-interment 
and to the site selected. 

I am, with respect, yours, ete., 


Ety S. PARKER. 


Mr. Bryant sent to the General the following reply, 
which will be found of great interest, and may be con- 
sidered the first authoritative statement of the matter 


ever made: 
BuFFALO, June 25, 1884. 
GEN. Evy S. PARKER: 


Dear Sir:—In 1852. Red Jacket’s remains reposed in the old 
Mission Cemetery at East Buffalo, surrounded by those of Young 
King, Capt. Pollard, Destroy Town, Little Billy, Mary Jemison, and 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 205 


others, renowned in the later history of the Senecas. His grave was 
marked by a marble slab, erected by the eminent comedian, Henry 
Placide, but which had been chipped away to half of its original 
proportions by relic hunters and other vandals. The cemetery was 
the pasture ground for vagrant cattle, and was in a scandalous state 
of dilapidation and neglect. The legal title to the grounds was and 
still is in the possession of the Ogden Land Company, although 
at the time of the last treaty the Indians were led to believe that 
the cemetery and church grounds were excluded from its operation. 
At the time mentioned (1852), George Copway, the well-known Ojibwa 
lecturer, delivered two or more lectures in Buffalo, in the course of 
which he called attention’ to Red Jacket’s neglected grave and agi- 
tated the subject of the removal of his dust to a more secure place 
and the erection of a suitable monument. A prominent business 
man, the late Wheeler Hotchkiss, who lived adjoining the cemetery, 
because deeply interested in the project, and he, together with Cop- 
way, assisted by an undertaker named Farwell, exhumed the remains 
and placed them in a new coffin, which was deposited with the 
bones in the cellar of the Hotchkiss residence. 

There were a few Senecas still living on the Buffalo Creek Reser- 
vation, among them Moses Stevenson, Thomas Jemison, Daniel Two 
Guns, and others. They discovered that the old chief’s grave had 
been violated almost simultaneously with its accomplishment. Steven- 
son, Two Guns, and a party of excited sympathizers among the 
whites, hastily gathered together and repaired to the Hotchkiss resi- 
dence, where they demanded that the remains should be given up to 
them. The request was complied with and the bones were taken to 
Cattaraugus and placed in the custody of Ruth Stevenson, the fav- 
. orite step-daughter of Red Jacket, and a most worthy woman. Ruth 
was the wife of James Stevenson, brother of Moses. Their father 
was a contemporary of Red Jacket and a distinguished chief. She 
was a sister of Daniel Two Guns. Her father, a renowned warrior 
and chief, fell at the battle of Chippewa, an ally of the United 
States. 

When the demand was made by the excited multitude Hotch- 
kiss manifested considerable perturbation at the menacing attitude 
of the crowd. He turned to Farwell and, indicating the place of 
deposit of the remains, requested that Farwell should descend into 
the cellar and bring up the coffin or box, which by the way, was 
made of red cedar and about four feet in length. 

Ruth preserved the remains in her cabin for some years and 
finally buried them, but resolutely concealed from every living per- 
son any knowledge of the place of sepulture. Her husband was 


206 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


then dead and she was a childless, lone widow. As she became 
advanced in years it grew to be a source of anxiety to her what 
disposition should finally be made of these sacred relics. She con- 
sulted the Rev. Asher Wright and his wife on the subject, and 
concluded at length to deliver them over to the Buffalo Historical 
Society, which, with the approval of the Seneca Council, had under- 
taken to provide a permanent resting-place for the bones of that 
old chief and his compatriots. 

I do not believe that there is any ground for doubting the iden- 
tity of the remains and I think Hotchkiss and his confederates should 
be acquitted of any intention to do wrong. It was an implusive 
and ill-advised act on their part. The few articles buried with the 
body were found intact. The skull is in excellent preservation and 
is unmistakably that of Red Jacket. Eminent surgeons, who have 
examined it and compared it with the best portraits of Red Jacket, 
attest to its genuineness. 

The Rev. Asher Wright was a faithful missionary among the 
Senecas for nearly half a century. 

There was no opportunity afforded Hotchkiss and his companions 
to fraudulently substitute another skeleton, had they been so disposed. 
I knew Hotchkiss well and have his written statements of the facts. 
Farwell, who still lives, and is a very reputable man, says that when 
the remains were surrendered to the Indians the skull had (as it 
has now) clinging to it in places a thin crust of plaster of Paris, 
showing that an attempt had been made to take a cast of it, which 
probably was arrested by the irruption of Two Guns and his band. 

I have dictated the foregoing because on re-perusal of your 
esteemed letter, I discovered I had not met the question which was 
in your mind when you wrote Mr, Marshall, and I greatly fear 
that I have wearied you by reciting details with which you were 
already familiar. 

The old Mission Cemetery, I grieve to say, has been invaded 
by white foreigners, who are burying their dead there with a stolid 
indifference to every sentiment of justice or humanity. 


Yours very respectfully, 


WitiaM C. BRYANT. 


General Parker, in acknowledgment of the last com- 
munication, said that he had never entertained a doubt as 
to the identity of the remains, but was curious to know how 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 207 


the Indians had been induced to surrender them to the 
possession of the whites. 

The reburial of Red Jacket and the nine Seneca chiefs 
was an incident in the history of Buffalo. Many of the 
best representatives of the Six Nations from Canada and 
New York were present. Hundreds of prominent citizens 
witnessed the funeral cortege and the ceremonies, and 
many came from long distances to take part in the exer- 
cises. 

The principal address of the occasion was made by 
William C. Bryant, but an address equally significant from 
the standpoint of the Senecas was made by General Parker. 
As an example of the thoughts of his later life, we wish to 
quote it in full. It will assist in measuring his mind and 
in fathoming the depths of his Indian heart. 


GENERAL PARKER’S ADDRESS AT THE TOMB OF RED JACKET 


““Much has been said and written of the Iroquois people. 
All agree that they once owned and occupied the whole 
country now constituting the State of New York. They 
reached from the Hudson on the east to the lakes on the 
west, and claimed much conquered territory. 

“*T desire only to direct attention to one phase of their 
character, which in my judgment has never been brought 
out with sufficient force and clearness, and that is, their 
fidelity to their obligations and the tenacity with which 
they held to their allegiance when once it was pledged. More 
than two hundred and fifty years ago, when the Iroquois 
were in the zenith of their power and glory, the French 
made the mistake of assisting the northern Indians with 
whom the Iroquois were at war. They never forgot or 
forgave the French for the aid they gave their Indian 
enemies and the French were never able afterward to gain 
their friendship. About the same time the Holland Dutch 
came up the Hudson, and though perhaps they were no 


208 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


wiser than their French neighbors, they certainly pursued 
a wiser policy by securing the friendship of the Iroquois. 
The Indians remained true to the allegiance until the Dutch 
were superseded by the English, when they also transferred 
their allegiance to the new comers. They remained stead- 
fast to the faith they had given, and assisted the English 
people to put down the rebellion of the American Colonies 
against the mother government. 

‘“The colonists succeeded in gaining their independence 
and establishing a government to their liking, but in the 
treaty of peace which followed, the English entirely 
ignored and forgot their Indian allies, leaving them to shift 
for themselves. A portion of the Iroquois, under Captain 
Brant, followed the fortunes of the English into Canada, 
where they have since been well cared for by the provincial 
and home governments. Those who remained in the United 
States continued to struggle for their homes and the integ- 
rity of what they considered their ancient and just rights. 
The aid, however, which they had given against the cause 
of the American Revolution had been so strong as to leave 
an intense burning hostility to them in the minds of the 
American people, and to allay this feeling and to settle for 
all time the question of rights as between the Indians and 
the whites, General Washington was compelled to order an 
expedition into the Indian country of New York to break 
the Indian power. This expedition was under command 
of General Sullivan. The Indians left to themselves and 
bereft of promised British aid. made Sullivan’s success an 
easy one. He drove them from their homes, destroyed and 
burnt their villages, cut down their cornfields and orchards, 
leaving the poor Indians homeless, houseless and destitute. 
We have been told this evening that the ‘Long House’ of 
the Iroquois had been broken. It was indeed truly broken 
by Sullivan’s invasion. It was so completely broken that 
never again will the ‘Long House’ be reconstructed. 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 209 


“‘The Indians sued for peace. They were now at the 
mercy of General Washington and the American people. A 
peace was granted them, and small homes allowed in the 
vast domains they once claimed as absolutely and wholly 
theirs by the highest title known among men, viz.: by the 
gift of God. The mercy of the American people granted 
them the right to occupy and cultivate certain lands until 
some one stronger wanted them. They hold their homes 
today by no other title than that of occupancy, although 
some Indian bands have bought and paid for the lands they 
reside upon the same as you, my friends have bought and 
paid for the farms you live upon. The Indian mind has 
never to this day been able to comprehend how it is that 
he has been compelled to buy and pay for that which has 
descended to him from time immemorial, and which his 
ancestors had taught him was the gift of the Great Spirit 
to him and his posterity forever. It was an anomaly in 
civilized law far beyond his reasoning powers. 

“*In the treaty of peace concluded after Sullivan’s cam- 
paign the remnants of the Iroquois transferred their 
allegiance to the United States, and to that allegiance they 
have remained firm and true to this day. They stood side 
by side with you in the last war with Great Britain, in the 
defense of this frontier, and fought battles under the 
leadership of the able and gallant General Scott. Again 
the sons of the Iroquois marched shoulder to shoulder with 
you, your fathers, your husbands and your sons in the last 
great rebellion of the South, and used, with you their best 
endeavors to maintain the inviolability and integrity of the 
American Constitution, to preserve unsullied the purity of 
the American Flag, and to wipe out forever from every 
foot of American soil the curse of human slavery. Such, 
in brief has been their fidelity to their allegiance. 

‘‘TIt was during the troublous times of the American 
Revolution that Red Jacket’s name first appears. He is 


210 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


mentioned as a messenger, or bearer of dispatches, or run- 
ner, for the British. He subsequently appears at the treaty 
of peace and at all treaties and councils of importance 
his name is always prominent. He was a devoted lover 
of his people and defender of their ancient rights. His 
political creed did not embrace that peculiar doctrine now 
so strongly believed in, that ‘to the victors belong the 
spoils.’ He did not know that the Sullivan campaign had 
taken from his people all the vested rights which God had 
given them, and when subsequently, he was made to under- 
stand that a pre-emptive title hung over the homes of his 
people he was amazed at the audacity of the white man’s 
law which permitted and sanctioned the sale and transfer 
by one person to another of rights never owned and of 
properties never seen. 
*‘From the bottom of my heart I believe that Red Jacket 
was a true Indian and a most thorough pagan. He used all 
the powers of his eloquence in opposition to the introduc- 
tion of civilization and Christianity among his people. In 
this as in many other things he signally failed. So per- 
sistent and tenacious was he in his hostility to the white 
man and his ways and methods that one of his last requests 
is said to have been that white men should not dig his 
grave and that white men should not bury him. But how 
forcibly now comes to us the verity and strength of the 
saying that ‘man proposes but God disposes.’ Red Jacket 
had proposed that his remains should lie buried and undis- 
turbed in the burial-place of his fathers. Very soon after 
his death the people removed from their old lands to other 
homes. Red Jacket’s grave remained unprotected, and 
ere long was desecrated. God put it into the hearts of 
these good men of the Buffalo Historical Society to take 
charge of his remains, give him a decent burial in a white 
man’s graveyard, and over his grave to erect a monument 
which should tell his story to all future generations. 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 211 


*“We have this day witnessed and participated in the 
culmination of their labors. But Red Jacket has been 
honorably reburied with solemn and ancient rites, and may 
his remains rest there in peace until time shall be no more. 
While a silent spectator of the ceremonies today, the words 
of the Blessed Savior forcibly presented themselves to my 
mind: ‘The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have 
nests, but the son of man hath not where to lay His head.’ 
I applied this saying to the Indian race. They have been 
buffeted from pillar to post. They once owned much but 
now have hardly anything they can call their own. While 
living they are not let alone, when dead they are not left 
unmolested. 

‘‘Members of the Buffalo Historical Society: The rep- 
resentatives of the Iroquois here present have imposed 
upon me the pleasing duty of returning to you their pro- 
found and sincere thanks for the honor you have done their 
people today. Mournful memories are brought to their 
minds in the sad ceremonies in which they have been both 
participants and witnesses, but their griefs are all assuaged 
and their tears dried up by your kindness. They will carry 
back to their people nothing but good words of you and 
yours. They again return you thanks and bid you fare- 
well.’’ 


General Parker then exhibited the Red Jacket medal 
presented by order of General Washington, President in 
1792. It is of silver, oval in shape, seven inches long by 
five inches broad. The general had dressed it in black and 
white wampum, the black indicating mourning and the 
white, peace and gladness. In the article in the Buffalo 
Courier of October 10th describing the occasion, the editor 
truly says: 

“‘The production of this medal was important, because 
stories, like that about Red Jacket’s bones, have for some 


212 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


time been current to the effect that this medal was exhibited 
out West years ago. Like Red Jacket’s bones, however, it 
has been carefully preserved, and there is no doubt what- 
ever of its identity.’’ 

Six years passed and a movement had grown having as 
its object the erection of a fittmg monument to the orator 
of the Iroquois. General Parker consulted with sculptors 
and friends. His idea was to make the monument symbolie, 
carrying out the Indian ideas of a fitting memorial, depart- 
ing as far as possible from the ordinary statue with a 
merely ornamental base. The thought which came to 
General Parker’s mind was to preserve the prophetic words 
of the great orator, ‘‘I am an aged tree.’’ General Parker 
depicted this idea in the following plan, which I find after 
these years in his own handwriting: 


THE RED JACKET MEMORIAL. 


““T am an aged tree, and can stand no longer. My leaves are 
fallen, my branches are withered and I am shaken by every breeze. 
Soon my aged trunk will be prostrate.’’ Such are a few of the mem- 
orable words reported to have been uttered by Red Jacket to his 
people in his house to house farewell visits just previous to his death. 
They are personal in their character, the ‘‘aged tree’’ meaning him- 
self, the withered branches his exhausted strength. and the fallen 
leaves the loss of all his children who were the pride and glory of 
his early manhood. While the words are so exclusively personal, to 
me they also speak of the expiring life of the Iroquois Confederacy. 
The embers of its council-fire had been extinguished, its ashes scat- 
tered to the four winds of heaven and the symbolic Long House left 
a mass of ruins after the expedition of General Sullivan into the 
Seneca country in 1779. Whether Red Jacket felt this or not, it was 
notwithstanding an accomplished fact when these words were spoken. 
The ‘‘aged tree’’ represented the Indian Confederacy, the birth of 
whose existence was unknown to the memory of man; its fallen leaves 
the extinguishment of its long line of brave warriors and sage coun- 
sellors; and its withered branches the disintegration of its various 
tribes. Red Jacket, in condoling with his special people on the 
consequences which would follow his approaching dissolution, was but 
pronouncing a requiem upon the ghost of the ancient confederacy, the 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 213 


refrain to which can only be sounded by its present unfortunate 
survivors. 

It seems to me that the happy simile of the tree must have been 
deeply rooted in Réd Jacket’s mind, for upon another occasion, in 
referring to hi8 family afflictions, he is reported to have said: ‘‘Red 
Jacket was once a great man and in favor with the Great Spirit. 
He was a lofty pine among the smaller trees of the forest. . . . 
The Great Spirit has looked upon him in anger, and the lightning 
has stripped the pine of its branches.’’ 

In my mind I have hastily reviewed the many incidents happen- 
ing in Red Jacket’s long life, and I am at present forcibly impressed 
that the ‘‘aged tree’’ is the most fitting emblem that could be placed 
over the spot where rest his mortal remains, because it will appro- 
priately perpetuate the ideas he entertained of himself and at the 
same time properly symbolize the ending or death of the Iroquois 
Confederacy. 

I am neither an artist nor a critic of art, but my idea of this 
memorial is, for the ‘‘aged tree’’ to stand on the pedestal solitary 
and alone; Red Jacket, in an oratorical pose, with four or five 
Indians to represent the other nations, sitting or in recumbent posi- 
tions about him, to be on the front bas-relief; broken bows and 
arrows with broken pipes and partially buried tomahawks and other 
warlike implements to be on a side bas-relief; and the symbolic 
‘Tong House,’’ in ruins, on the other side in bas-relief. The fourth 
side of the pedestal might be left vacant to indicate that the extine- 
tion of the Confederacy leaves a blank in the history of this country, 
as has happened to other tribes who have journeyed to the spirit 
land before them and been forgotten. 

The above are mere suggestions for consideration. Any other 
plan equally suggestive and comprehensive will secure my cordial 
approval and support. 

Ey S. PARKER. 
N. Y., 2-13-’89. 


Another plan however succeeded, and while Mrs. Harriet 
Maxwell Converse was raising funds in 1890, Mrs. Martha 
M. Huyler contributed the amount necessary for the com- 
plete monument, though it was built on entirely different 
lines. It stands today at the entrance of Forest Lawn 
Cemetery in Buffalo, a tribute to Red Jacket and Red 
Jacket’s people. 


214 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


General Parker living came once again to witness the 
dedication of that monument. He came once more in 
death, and like Red Jacket, his remains were taken from 
their first grave, to be reburied beneath the shadow of that 
monument, and by the side of the great men of his nation 
who had known his father. 

We can not close this chapter on Red Jacket without 
quoting General Parker’s letter, describing Red Jacket’s 
disappointed ambition to become a Sachem of the League. 
He wrote: 

New York, November 26, 1884. 
WILLIAM C. Bryant, Esq. Buffalo, N. Y.: 


_ DEAR Sin:— I owe you many apologies for not before answer- 
ing yours of October 25th, which was duly received, but I have had 
so many other things to attend to that your letter was temporarily 
laid aside. I will now, however, respond as briefly as I can to your 
inquiries respecting Red Jacket. 

You say you ‘‘have always been led to believe that Red Jacket 
did not belong to any of the noble or aristocratic families in which 
the title or distinction was hereditary.’’ Also, ‘‘was his mother of 
noble birth?’’ ete., ete. 

Let me disabuse your mind of one matter in the outset. Such 
a thing as aristocracy, nobility, class caste or social grades was un- 
known among the Iroquois. A political superiority was, perhaps, 
given by the founders of the League to the Mohawks, Onondagas 
and Senecas, who were styled ‘‘brothers,’’ and were addressed as 
‘‘fathers’’ by the Oneidas and Cayugas, who also were ‘‘brothers’’ 
and yet ‘‘children.’? Nor were the Turtle, Bear and Wolf clans 
invested with the first attribute of nobility or aristocracy because 
they were also the elder brothers and cousins to the other clans. I 
am of the opinion that no purer and truer democracy, or a more 
perfect equality of social and political rights. ever existed among 
any people than prevailed among the Iroquois at the time of their 
discovery by the whites. Often at that time and since persons 
attained positions of prominence and power by their superior intel- 
lectual abilities or their extraordinary prowess and success on the 
war-path. (Conspicuous examples of this fact are Joseph Brant and 
Red Jacket.) Successes of this kind, however, brought only tempo- 
rary and ephemeral distinction to him, his family, his relations, 
his clan, and perhaps, reflected some honor on his tribe. But this 


LAST GEAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 215 


accidental or fatuitous distinction was not transmissible as a rightful 
or hereditary one, and was retained only so long as intellectual superi- 
ority, military prowess or personal bravery could be maintained by 
the person or family. 

When declining years broke one’s intellectual and physical pow- 
ers some younger person immediately dropped in to fill the gap, and 
the old warrior or councilor fell away into obscurity. Thus it is 
easily seen how the hand of power and distinction could be con- 
stantly shifted from one person or family to another, and could 
never remain settled longer than he or they were able to upheld the 
qualities entitling them to the supremacy. The founders of the 
League may or may not have considered this question in the organiza- 
tion they made. They perfected a confederacy of tribes, officered 
by forty-eight hereditary sachems or peace men and two hereditary 
military sachems or chieftains. They ignored the individuality of per- 
sons (except Tododaho) and families and brought the several tribes 
into the closest relationship by the establishment of common clans or 
totemships, to whom was confided the hereditability of the League 
officers. It was a purely accidental circumstance that some of the 
clans in some of the tribes were not endowed with sachemships and 
that others got more than one. But because some of the clans got 
more than one sachem, and because a family in that clan was tempo- 
rarily intrusted with the care of it, did not in consequence thereof 
ennoble or make the clan or family aristocratic. Bear in mind this 
fact: a sachemship belongs to a clan and is the property of no one 
family. Honorary distinctions are only assumed by the tribes or 
clans from the fact that the League makers gave them the rank of 
the elder or younger, and the family government and gradation of 
kinship was introduced to bring the same more readily to their com- 
prehension, understanding and remembrance. 

This idea of Indian social grades with titles is all a vain and 
foolish fancy of the early imaginative writers, who were educated to 
believe in such things; and the idea is retained, used and still dis- 
seminated by our modern susceptibles that love and adore rank and 
quality, and that give and place them where none is claimed. I do 
not deny that Royaner in the Mohawk means Lord or Master, but 
the same word, when applied to terrestrial or political subjects, only 
means Councilor. The Seneca word is Hoyarna, Councilor; Hoyarnago- 
war, Great Councilor. These names are applied to the League 
officers only, and the term ‘‘great’’ was added to designate them 
more conspicuously and distinguish them from a great body of lesser 
men who had forced themselves into the deliberations of the League 
Councilors. The term Hasanowaneh (great name) is given to this 


216 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


last great body of men, a body now known as chiefs. They were 
never provided for and, as I believe, were never contemplated by the 
League originators, but they subsequently came to the surface, as 
I have hereinbefore set forth, and forced a recognition of their exist- 
ence upon the ‘‘Great Councilors,’’ and, on account of their follow- 
ing and ability were provided with seats at the council board. 

Red Jacket was one of these ‘‘chiefs.’’ He was supremely and 
exclusively intellectual. He was a walking encyclopedia of the affairs 
of the Iroquois. His logical powers were nearly incontrovertible, 
at least to the untutored Indian generally. In his day, and to the 
times I am referring, the ‘‘Great Councilor’s’’ word was his bond; 
it was of more weight and consequence than the word of a chief. 
Red Jacket knew this well, and, while he could not be made a League 
officer, he used every means which his wisdom and cunning could 
devise to make himself appear not only the foremost man of his 
tribe but of the League. He was ever the chosen spokesman of the 
Indians to the seat of government, whether state or federal. In the 
signing of treaties, though unsuccessfully opposing them in open 
council, he would secretly intrigue for a blank space at or near the 
head of the list of signers, with a view, as the Indians asserted, of 
pointing to it as evidence that he was among its early advocates, 
and also that he was among the first and leading men of his tribe. 
He was even charged with being double-faced and sometimes speak- 
ing with a forked tongue. These and many other traits, both good 
and bad, which he possessed, worked against him in the minds of — 
his people, and interposed an insurmountable bar to his becoming a 
League officer. 

After the War of 1812, whenever Red Jacket visited the Tona- 
wanda Reservation, he made my father’s house his principal home, 
on account of his tribal relationship to my mother, who was of the 
Wolf clan. My father and his brother Samuel were both intelligent 
men, and knew and understood the Indians well, and were also fairly 
versed in Indian polities. During my early youth I have heard them 
discuss with other Indians the matters above referred to, and while 
they always agreed as to the main facts, they generally differed only 
as to the underlying motives and intentions of Red Jacket in his 
various schemes. 

White men visiting Indians for information usually ask specific 
questions, to which direct and monosyllabic answers are generally 
given. Seldom will an Indian go beyond a direct answer and give 
a general or extended reply; hence, I am not surprised that you had 
never heard anything respecting my statement, for as such a thing 
had never occurred to you, you have never thought to ask concerning 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 217 


it. The fact, however, remains the same, and I do not consider it 
derogatory of or a belittling of Red Jacket’s general character. 
Men of mind are nearly always courageous and ambitious. Red 
Jacket was not an exception. 

You suggest the performance on my part of an act which is 
simply impossible. The words sachem, sagamore, chief, king, prince, 
cazique, queen, princess, etc., have been promiscuously and inter- 
ehangeably used by every writer on Indians ever since their dis- 
covery. I have seen three of the above terms used in one article with 
reference to one and the same person, showing great looseness and 
want of discrimination in the writer. Yourself, let me say, mention 
John Mt. Pleasant as ‘‘the principal hereditary sachem of the Tus- 
earoras.’’ Now, my classification of Iroquois officers would be to 
tank the fifty original councilors as sachems, because they are the 
highest officers of the League. I would not use the term sagamore, 
because its use is almost wholly New England, and has been applied 
promiscuously to heads of bands, large and small, and sometimes to 
mere heads of families. To use other terms, such as king, prince 
or princess (see King Philip, King Powhattan and Princess Poca- 
hontas), is preposterous and presumptuous, considering the total 
absence among these people of the paraphernalia, belonging and dig- 
nity of royalty. My classification is: League officers, fifty in num- 
bers, ‘‘Sachems’’; all others, ‘‘Chiefs.’’ The Tuscaroras, for cer- 
tain reasons, were not admitted to a perfect equality in the League. 
They were not granted sachemships. Hence, Mt. Pleasant is not 
a sachem, only a chief. His talent and character might, indeed, 
constitute him the head chief of his tribe, but I doubt if his successor 
in name would take the same rank or exercise the same influence 
over the tribe that he does. Besides, the sachems alone can exercise 
a general authority in the League, while the chief’s authority is 
confined to their respective tribes or bands. To invent a new name 
now for our fifty League officers would produce endless confusion in 
papers and books relating to them and their affairs. The task is 
too herculean to undertake. 

Pardon me for having been so prolix. I may also have failed to 
make myself understood, for I have been compelled for want of 
time to leave out a great deal of explanatory matter. But you are 
such a good Indianologist that I feel certain of your ability to 
comprehend me. I am, with respect, 


Your obedient servant, 


Ey S. PARKER. 


218 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


General Parker never forgot his obligation to his people, 
and in all the records that remain, we find his voice 
raised in petition that their memory be _ preserved 
by the conquering race. His intimate knowledge of that 
race’s history gave him material for argument. This gave 
strength to his pleas which in many cases were effective in 
bringing about action on the part of interested friends or 
organizations. The Geneva Historical Society brought to 
his attention the old burial place of the Senecas at the 
State Agricultural Farm near Geneva and in a memorial to 
the State Legislature he petitioned that it be set aside for- 
ever in memory of his nation. We therefore record his 
memorial as he wrote and signed it. His prayer, and that 
of his friends, was granted, and today the tract is set aside 
as State property and shall forever be unmolested by 
vandal hands. 


MEMORIAL TO THE STATE LEGISLATURE. 


To the Honorable, the Legislature of the State of New York: 


I have been informed that adjoining the ‘‘New York Agricul- 
tural Experiment Station’’ near Geneva, N. Y., there is a certain 
piece of land of about three acres, which bears evidence of having 
once been the ‘‘Burying Place’’ of the Seneca Indians. This par- 
ticular ‘‘ Burying Place’’ must have been one of the many opened and 
used by the Senecas after their traditional dispersion from the 
‘Great Hills’’ about Canandaigua Lake, and their resettlement at 
Ganundasaga (New-town or Geneva), and other places about Seneca 
Lake and west of Cayuga Lake. 

It is a historical fact that the Senecas claimed the country west- 
ward from Cayuga Lake, and their villages, or castles, were more 
thickly placed between Lakes Cayuga and Seneca, about the smaller 
lakes of Canandaigua, Honeoye, Conesus and Hemlock, up and down 
the beautiful valley of the Genesee river and so on westward to the 
country of the Neutral Nation along the Niagara river and to the 
homes of the Eries along the southern shores of the great lake of 
that name. Both of these Nations were subsequently exterminated 
by the combined power of the Iroquois, and this gave the Senecas 
unlimited claim to all the country west of them to the great Missis- 
sippi, and also Western Canada. The Senecas, however, lived in the 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 219 


villages and castles of their original country, but roamed, ad libitum, 
to the countries north, south and west of them in pursuit of their 
national amusement, viz.: that of fishing, hunting and war. The 
earliest expeditions of the French, English and Dutch found them 
a happy and contented people, and from a barbaric standpoint, they 
were a prosperous people, for their villages were well located, their 
dwellings comfortable and adapted to the climate; they cultivated 
fields where they raised corn, beans, squashes and potatoes for their 
subsistence, and where besides they had apple, peach, plum and 
cherry trees in profusion. They also had a regular organized sys- 
tem of government suitable to their condition. The avarice, rivalries 
and cunning of the different pale-faced races by which they were 
being rapidly surrounded, brought them into unfortunate entangling 
alliances, and for the part they took against the colonies in their 
struggle for independence, General George Washington, in 1779, sent 
an armed expedition, under command of General John Sullivan, to 
exterminate this people and wipe them out from the face of the 
American continent. 

General Sullivan carried out his instructions with scrupulous 
exactitude, destroying thousands of bushels of corn, cutting down 
hundreds of acres of standing corn and fruit trees at all their settle- 
ments, and burning all their villages and castles that he could find. 
The Indians made only a nominal resistance, but they were scattered 
and their national life was practically extinct after this expedition, 
and the few scattered remnants at once allied themselves with the 
people of the United States. To that allegiance they and their 
children have remained true to this day. 

In 1812 they fought side by side with the American soldiers in 
repelling the invaders from the northern frontier of the United 
States; and in the late Rebellion they marched shoulder to shoulder 
with the bravest of the Union men to the defense of the glorious 
flag of the Stars and Stripes and to the maintenance of the doctrine 
that the American Union of States is one and indivisible. 

But it was on the expedition of General Sullivan that burial- 
places adjacent to some villages were discovered and noted. Among 
them, one not very far from Geneva was mentioned as a sepulechre, 
where there then lay in full exposure the corpse of an Indian chief, 
or sachem, dressed in his full robes of state. This burial place, it 
is suggested, should be bought and cared for by the State of New 
York as a monument of the place where this people once dwelt. It 
matters very little to the people of this State, or to the under- 
signed, whether this be done or not; but to the historian and to 
future generations, it is a matter of moment, to know what people 


20 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


lived here, what their characteristics, what relics they have left and 
also what the people of this State have preserved of their predecessors 
before they themselves became so deeply and firmly rooted in this 
ancient Indian soil. : 

The amount required to initiate this matter is but a trifle, and 
to maintain it hereafter is a mere bagatelle for the great Empire | 
State, and the honor it will confer upon a heroic pre-existing race 
will be a noble one. This burial plot was forcibly abandoned by the 
Indians more than a hundred years ago, nor is it likely that an 
application similar to this will ever again be presented to the Legis- 
lature of this State. The Indians, as such, have left no memorial 
monuments. A monument to Logan, the Cayuga, the avowed friend 
of the white man, put up by private enterprise in the cemetery of 
Auburn, N. Y., is the only death remembrance which I am aware of 
that any Indian has ever received in this State. 

A proposition to perpetuate the memory of the Indian Demos- 
thenes, Red Jacket, and several of his compatriot chiefs by the erec- 
tion of a monument in the cemetery at Buffalo, is yet in embryo. 
The few surviving remnants of the Iroquois in this State will 
undoubtedly make suitable provisions for the protection of the 
grounds wherein they are at present depositing the last of their 
race. It is only natural and proper for people and individuals to 
wish to perpetuate in some manner the memories of their existence. 
The ancient Egyptians left to us their obelisks and pyramids, the 
Romans their buried cities, the Greeks their arts and literature, the 
English are leaving their relics in Westminster Abbey, the Americans 
have already planted a Washington Monument, and all that is asked 
here of this Legislature is the purchase, preservation and consecra- 
tion of this small piece of ground, where shall remain, undisturbed 
from vandal hands, the dust of the Seneca dead. 


Respectfully yours, 


E, S. PARKER, 


A Seneca Iroquois Sachem. 
NEw York, Feb. 1, 1888. 


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LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 221 


CHAPTER XIX 


THE LAST GRAND SACHEM. 


The Sachem had wandered afar from his people but he 
could not forget them. The force of circumstances had 
placed him in the midst of activities of civilization as a 
business man competing with other men. Though he often 
expressed a longing for the quiet valley of the Tonawanda 
and the council hall of the Senecas, his obligations held 
him to the island of Manhattan, and in the houses of stone 
dedicated to business, law and government. 

His city home was on Forty-second street, west of Sixth 
avenue, and there with his wife he entertained his many 
friends. He was ever sought by cultured men for his charm- 
ing manner and interesting conversational ability. Yet he 
never dropped to the commonplace. He was not a man who 
could talk about the weather, merely for the sake of talking. 

The General was devoted to his wife, whom he frequently 
described to his friends as ‘‘the one woman in all the world 
for me.’’ He was with her in sickness and in health, always 
kind, patient and courteous. It is said, however, that he 
was ever dignified in her presence, never familiar or frivo- 
lous. 

As his fortunes faded he took a position in the Police 
Department of the city, where his old friend, General 
Smith, was Police Commissioner. He was at one time 
department architect, and later, until his death, supply 
elerk. It was in this historic office at 300 Mulberry street 
that he met many distinguished men who later entered 
public life. Here he saw Jacob Riis, the Danish newspaper 
reporter, and here he worked at the side of the aggressive 
Theodore Roosevelt. Three hundred Mulberry street was a 
meeting place for many rising, aggressive men. Jacob Riis 
in his ‘‘ Making of an American”’ tells of some whom he met 
there, and of his acquaintance with Parker: 


222 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


I suppose it was the fact that he was an Indian that first 
attracted me to him [writes Mr. Riis]. As the years passed we 
became good friends, and I loved nothing better in an idle hour 
than to smoke a pipe with the General in his poky little office at 
Police Headquarters. When, once in a while, it would happen that 
some of his people came down from the Reservation or from Canada, 
the powwow that ensued was my dear delight. He was a noble old 
fellow. His title was no trumpery show either. It was fairly earned 
on more than one bloody field with Grant’s army. Parker was 
Grant’s military secretary, and wrote the original draft of the sur- 
render at Appomattox, which he kept to his death with great pride. 
It was not General Parker, however, but Donehogawa, Chief of the 
Senecas and the remnant of the once powerful Six Nations, and 
guardian of the western door of the council lodge, that appealed to 
me, who in my boyhood had lived with Leather-Stocking and with 
Uncas and Chingachgook. They had something to do with my com- 
ing here, and at last I had for a friend one of their kin. I think 
he felt the bond of sympathy between us and prized it, for he showed 
me in many silent ways that he was fond of me. 


The General was ever a busy man, but somehow he always 
found time to visit with a friend or to write a friendly 
letter. At his fireside in the evening he frequently wrote 
long letters in answer to the innumerable questions he re- 
ceived. Likewise, when he could not resist the longing he 
would visit his old home at Tonawanda or go for a visit 
to his brother Nicholson at Cattaraugus. Just who all his 
friends were in New York the writer does not pretend to 
know. There were many of them, particularly army men. 
His friendship with Colonel Fred D. Grant was a deep and 
lasting one. He had known Fred as a boy and had taken 
him to his sister’s home at Tuscarora. We only know he 
worked ceaselessly. His few leisure hours were either spent 
at home with his wife and daughter or at a friendly game 
of billiards, at which he was an expert player. 

His health in general was good but he showed the strain 
of the indoor life. An injured ankle developed a chronic 
ease of varicose veins that left an open sore for several 
years. He suffered much from it, though he seldom men- 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 223 


tioned it save to very close friends. His friend Dr. Salis- 
bury was his physician, but though famous as a surgeon 
he never quite cured the injured ankle and foot. 

The General was often asked to write a story of his life, 
but he never did completely. Many things of importance 
he regarded as of little interest. He never wrote the story 
of his parents or told of his childhood acquaintance with 
Red Jacket save to intimate friends. He never even men- 
tioned that his father and mother were cousins, according 
to the white man’s way of reckoning. In the Indian sys- 
tem, however, each parent was of a different clan and the 
marriage was perfectly permissible. Fragments of his 
writings have been found, however, chiefly among the 
papers of his friend, Mrs. Harriet Maxwell Converse. 

The death of his sister Carrie in 1893 was a severe shock 
to him. She was the only sister of the family and the two 
had a deep bond of sympathy between them. With her 
death only three members of the family remained—Levi, 
Nicholson and himself. Both brothers were destined to 
pass away during the same year. He alone remained. That 
same year, on June 15th, he was stricken with paralysis at 
his desk at police headquarters. 

He was nursed back to health at his summer home in 
Fairfield, Conn., but he never fully recovered, although he 
resumed to some extent his customary labors. His battle 
for life was a heroic one, such as would be expected in a 
man so reared; but two years later he seemed on the verge 
of a collapse. He was granted a leave of absence by the 
Police Commissioner and he went to the home of his friend 
Arthur Brown in Fairfield. He concealed the pain he suf- 
fered—he lived by force of an indomitable will. To a friend 
during these last days he said: ‘‘I came down to dinner 
to please the ladies, but I could not eat. I think I am dying 
physically.’’ He revealed his lower limbs which were black 
with the lifeless blood that had settled there. 


224 LAST GEAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


A few hours passed. He lay upon his bed, with his wife 
and daughter Maud beside him, and thus he passed to the 
land of the hereafter, passed to the sky-world of his fathers. 
Only his Maker knew of his pain or of his battle. 

His physician said afterward that his heart had beat until 
there was no more blood to pump, before it ceased its work. 

Then the news flashed over the wires, ‘‘Donehogawa is 
dead.’’ Papers issued ‘‘extras’’ describing his remarkable 
life, and bereaved friends hastened to Fairfield for their 
last glimpse of the sachem of the Iroquois. His own people, 
with his relatives, came. Colonel F. D. Grant, then Police 
Commissioner, expressed his genuine sorrow. ‘‘General 
Parker,’’ he said, ‘‘was a brave man. He served on my 
father’s staff with distinction and was promoted for bravy- 
ery. I am not superstitious,’’ he added, ‘‘but yesterday 
morning I was especially thinking of General Parker and 
when I heard of his death I was not surprised. He died 
at the moment I was thinking so intently.’’ Mrs. Parker 
had telegraphed Commissioner Grant of the General’s death 
and a newspaper reporter recorded his remark. 

Members of the Loyal Legion, a detachment from Reno 
Post, G. A. R., and a delegation from the Society of Colonial 
Wars came to do the military honors due their departed 
brother member. His Masonic brothers were there in num- 
bers. Among his military friends were Colonel Fred Grant 
and General C. T. Colles. 

From the reservation came Mrs. Jacob Doctor, the daugh- 
ter of his brother Levi, Frederick Ely Parker, the son of his 
brother Nicholson, Sachem Chauncey Abrams and Abram 
Moses, all representing the Tonawanda Senecas; from Cat- 
taraugus came Sachem Chester Lay and Andrew John; 
from Tuscarora came Chief Elias Williams and F. L. John- 
son; from the Onondagas came Daniel LaFort, President of 
the Six Nations, and Abram Hill, the Wampum Keeper of 
the Confederacy of the Nations. 


LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


Among these men—we shall not name them—were high 
representatives of the ancient League of the Iroquois, and 
members of the ancient fraternities of the Iroquois of 
which Do-ne-ho-ga-wa had been a member. 


The funeral was conducted after the Episcopalian ritual. 
Upon the dead sachem’s breast reposed the insignia of the 
Society of Colonial Wars and of the Loyal Legion. Of 
greater interest were the strands of sacred purple wampum 
that lay upon his casket, curved inward in the form of a 
circle, the ends touching. These were the sachemship or 
ho-ya-neh ‘‘horns’’ and in that position symbolized that his 
life had been completed. But this wampum is never buried, 
for it is a living thing, and the seal of a title. The Wam- 
pum Keeper, before the casket was taken away, turned the 
ends outward like the spreading horns of a ram, or the sign 
of Ares, in token that the name of Donehogawa lived and 
would be ‘‘raised’’ again at the Ho-de-os-ha of the Nation. 

So, contrary to his mother’s vision and her prophecy, this 
son of Tonawanda was buried in the land of the paleface 
and in the old territory of the Pequots, the ancient vassals 
of the Confederacy. Was it true her fancy had come to 
naught, like most Indian superstitions? Was it the bitter- 
ness of a sordid world of prosy fact that prevented the 
death cry of his clan? ‘‘Go-weh, go-weh, go-weh; Do-ne- 
ho-ga-wa is returning to his people!’’ 

Poetic justice, the will of his people, the patriotism of the 
Buffalo Historical Society, came to the rescue. Do-ne-ho- 
ga-wa should return and the spot seen by his mother at the 
foot of the rainbow should fold him in its earthly embrace. 

On January 20, 1897, with the consent of Mrs. Parker, 
the body of the General and sachem, was brought to Buffalo 
and reinterred at Forest Lawn Cemetery. He now lies be- 
side his forefathers and beneath the shadow of Red Jacket’s 
monument. There friends gathered; red and white. Presi- 
dent Andrew Langdon and Secretary Frank H. Severance 


226 LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 


of the Historical Society were in charge of the arrange- 
ments, and with them were Dr. Joseph C. Greene, Charles 
J. North, and Dr. J. H. Tilden. The Loyal Legion Com- 
mittee included General James E. Curtiss, Colonel James N. 
Granger, Colonel C. E. Walbridge, Captain T, H. Fearey, 
Captain E. L. Coe, Maj. L. Marcus and H. H. Marcus 
Among the Seneca Indians were Sachem Chauncey Abrams, 
William Parker, Minnie C. Parker, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas 
Poudry and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Doctor, How- 
ard Hatch, David Shanks and wife, Chas. Cloute, Benjamin 
Ground, Anderson Charles, Alfred Jemison, David Moses, 
Truman Shanks and Mr. Skeye. The remains had come 
from Connecticut accompanied by Mrs. Ely S. Parker and 
the faithful Mrs. Harriet Maxwell Converse. 

Sachem Abrams, interpreted by William Parker, pe 
the burial address in behalf of the Senecas. ‘‘The people of 
Do-ne-ho-ga-wa’s own race,’’ said Sachem Abrams, address- 
ing President Langdon, ‘‘are grateful for all you have done 
today. It pleases us. We are much gratified to know that 
Do-ne-ho-ga-wa rests among his own people and not in a 
land of strangers.”’ 

Once more destiny, through the loyalty of military 
friends and the never-ceasing interest of Frank H. Sever- 
ance, and the Buffalo Historical Society, called a large 
company to the grave-side. It was for the purpose of dedi- 
cating the grave marker, given by Reno Post, No. 44, 
G. A. R., of which in life General Parker was a member. 
The ceremony took place on Decoration Day, 1905. 

A final tribute at the grave was paid by Captain Samuel 
H. Beckwith of Utica, an old friend and comrade of General 
Parker. The two had been closely, almost intimately asso- 
ciated during the critical campaigns about Richmond and 
Appomattox. Parker had been Grant’s military secretary 
and Beckwith his cipher dispatcher. 


UNVEILING HEADSTONE FOR DO-NE-HO-GEH-WEH (GEN. ELY 8S. PARKER), FOREST LAWN, 
BUFFALO, DECORATION DAY, 1905 


Gen. Parker’s old comrade, Capt. S. H. Beckwith, removing the flag from the stone. The exercises were conducted by the Buffalo 
Historical Society and the Grand Army Posts of Buffalo. 


LAST GEAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS 227 


The last prayer was given by Rev. J. Emory Fisher, the 
missionary at the old Cattaraugus Mission. Then in accord 
with the rites of the Grand Army of the Republic, Captain 
A. J. Smith read the memorable address of President 
Lincoln at Gettysburg. When the grave had been banked 
with flowers, Moses Shongo, a Seneca Indian, made an ad- 
dress in his native tongue. In closing his talk he said: 

““Today the floating spirits of the unseen are among us. 
Would that they could give expression of appreciation, as 
they all were gifted in speech far more than I. But I will 
endeavor to speak for my people, and to say that we extend 
to you our most sincere and heartfelt thanks for the noble 
act you have done for your brothers, the redmen of the 
forests, the men of nature. The quiet undisturbed sur- 
roundings of this spot show that those who have gone before 
although no more seen, are not forgotten.’’ 

Forest Lawn Cemetery is a part of the old Granger 
estate, where the Indians, in the first decades of 1800, came 
to council and to trade. Here Elizabeth had the vision of 
her future son and here she had seen the signs that the 
medicine man interpreted to her. 

‘*A son shall be born to you who will be distinguished 
among his nation as a peacemaker; he will be a wise white 
man, but will never desert his people, nor lay down his 
sachem’s horns as a great chief. His name will reach from 
the east to the west, from the north to the south as great 
among his Indian family and pale-faces. His sun will rise 
on Indian land and set on white-man’s land, yet the ancient 
land of his ancestors will fold him in death.’’ 


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4 


APPENDIX 


A VISIT TO THE PARKER HOMESTEAD 
(See Introduction, page 6.) 


In collecting the material which has furnished the data for this 
book, not a single paper or document came from the immediate estate 
of General Parker. His library and files must have been rich with 
material that would have delighted a biographer, but so far as we 
Imow the records that we should have been grateful to have, perished 
during the process of clearing up his estate. The records that we 
have came mostly from the General’s reservation relatives and 
friends, or from official files and published articles. 

Since a small boy I had been interested in the romantic story of 
my Great Uncle, and thus I began a collection of notes, papers, clip- 
pings and anecdotes,—in fact anything I could find relating to him. 
For twenty years this process went on until in 1912 it occurred to me 
that the material should be brought together in the form of a biog- 
raphy. Accordingly I again visited both the Cattaraugus and the 
Tonawanda reservations seeking new material. At Cattaraugus I 
found numerous letters and papers, some of them just thrown out into 
a woodshed, from whence I rescued them. It was at the Tonawanda 
homestead, however, that the best material was found. 

Through the sympathetic interest of Laura Parker Doctor, the 
daughter of Levi Parker, I was able to find in the files of the General 
himself, left in the homestead in the days before the Civil War, many 
papers of exceptional value. Several visits were made and many 
interviews followed. Mrs. Doctor cheerfully turned over the material 
and, with her brother Frank, aided in many other ways. 

Mrs. Doctor is the daughter of the late Levi Parker, the brother 
of Ely. Upon the death of General Parker she became the owner of 
the reservation homestead, though the General had anticipated the 
bestowal of this property upon his sister Caroline. She, however, 
died before he did, and thus the land and buildings passed to the 
favorite niece, who had long been a faithful helper in every emer- 
gency. Long ago she had married Chief Jacob Doctor. It was an 
advantageous alliance, for she, too, was an influential woman in the 
tribe, being the holder of the right of nominating the successor to 
the title of Ga-nio-dai-u or Handsome Lake. This she gave to her 
brother Otto who served as Sachem of the League until his death in 
1914. She still preserves the strands of wampum that have been used 


231 


232 APPENDIX 


from time immemorial in confirming the right of nomination. The 
house in which she now lives is the home into which William Parker 
and his family moved after the land across the creek passed into the 
hands of the whites. It has been fixed over in a modern manner 
which outwardly conceals its age. 

The farm is situated against the reservation line and contains 
some of the best land on the reservation. It edges the ereek on one 
side, contains a wood lot, fine pasturage, a pond and a good orchard. 
The interior is well furnished, as country homes go, and the parlor 
and the sitting-room furniture, of walnut and mahogany, has been 
kept with great care. In the book-case are the books once belonging 
to Ely and Nicholson, truly a splendid collection of the scientific, 
historical and periodical literature of the period before the Civil War. 
Mrs. Doctor has preserved the home, the books and the relics with a 
conscientious regard that is most commendable. 

In this home she has instructed her nieces and nephews in the 
lore and the responsibilities of the family. Here she has sheltered 
many an orphan and homeless boy and girl and sent them forth with 
a new grip on life and its problems. Her husband was equally gen- 
erous. To her many duties as home keeper she added that of weaver, 
dairy owner and poultry keeper. For many years she wove rag 
carpets and rugs with such matchless skill that she had little compe- 
tition,—and indeed, little spare time. To her niece Carrie, or 
‘“Dollie’’ as she is affectionately called, she owes many comforts and 
from her she has received many months of help in her multifold 
duties. 

Always an ardent church worker, she has been the church treas- 
urer for many years and it was ever the delight of Carrie and Maisa 
to sit with her in the big church, and to hear ‘‘ Uncle Otto,’’ preach 
in the Seneca tongue. Now that Jacob, her husband, lies in the 
churchyard with the dust of his fathers, she runs the farm herself, 
though her three score and thirteen years weigh heavily upon her 
work-worn shoulders. Still she is a tribal authority and widely known 
for her good sense and her honesty. 

While sitting around the fire one winter day, I asked her to tell 
of her early recollections,—recollections of the grandmother days. 
Though she was busy preparing her maple sap she consented. 

‘“T suppose you know that my Indian name means ‘Follower of 
the sun,’ ’’ said she. ‘‘I hope always to follow the sun,—that is, the 
true light that everyone should follow. But you say you want to 
know about the grandmother days. I can tell you some things but 
not all, for I have been a very busy woman and thought more about 
my work than about history. Still I think I can tell you something. 


APPENDIX 233 


“My grandmother was a member of the Wolf Clan and so my 
father, Uncle Ely and their brothers and sister Carrie were Wolves. 
How well I remember my kind grandmother! She was the busiest 
woman I ever knew and never was quiet during the time she was 
awake. I often looked at her because I thought her very beautiful, 
very good and a lesson to me in industry. 


‘““When Otto and I were very small, Grandmother used to take 
us with her when she cared for her sugar bush. She would put both 
of us in a great pack-basket and carry us on her back for many a 
mile over the rough country to the places that she visited. Some 
times when she was tired she would allow me to run along by her side. 
but she was very strong and though Otto and I were five and seven 
years old we did not seem a burden for her back. 


‘*She had four sugar bushes, three of them her own. She tapped 
three hundred trees in each bush and could do the tapping very fast. 
She could tap all the trees before you could fix one right, so swiftly 
did she work. In each bush she had a bark cabin that my grand- 
father William had erected. These cabins were just like the ones 
lived in in old times and had platform beds all the way around and 
above. The fire was in the center on the ground and the smoke went 
up through a great opening in the roof. Oh, it was very nice and we 
liked the time when sugar was made because of the great fun we had 
then. I wish these times were back again, because I think the world 
was better then; certainly the Indians were better off for they were 
more industrious and better off. The door of our cabin was often 
nothing more than a deer skin or a buffalo robe but we kept quite 
warm. 


‘*Grandmother boiled her sap in big kettles and made sugar and 
not syrup. When afterward we wanted syrup we would melt the 
sugar with a little water. The sap tubes were made of wood but 
sometimes Grandmother would gash the trees with an axe. Her 
collecting vessels were bark or log tubs and she had a great many of 
them that she kept piled up in her sap-houses. I liked the smell of 
the woods, and the smoke in the cabins was fragrant. 


‘© At night we rolled up in fur robes and slept warm and very 
sound. We were not afraid because Grandmother had an ax and was 
a very good shot with either a gun or a bow. She always had both 
with her, and would shoot rabbits, coons, big birds and other game 
as well as any man. We got up early and Grandmother was always 
attending to her sap. Those were very happy days and it seems to 
me I never had anything to worry about. 


234 APPENDIX 


‘“Now I want to tell you about her house across the Tonawanda 

creek near Indian Falls, or Tonawanda Falls, as they called it then. 
The house was a large log building with an ‘‘ell’’ used for storage 

or as a spare bedroom. The cabin was more than 20 by 40 feet and 
the lower floor consisted of one great room. It had a very large 
fireplace in which logs were burned. We had no furniture except 
benches and there were plenty of these. Our dishes were of bark and 
wood, our forks were awls of wood and bone, our spoons were carved 
out of wood dyed red in hemlock root dye. Our wooden bowls were 
very handsome and some were carved from knots or knarls. When 
we ate, two benches were put together and the bark or wood bowls of 
meat, soup, corn-hominy and boiled bread were put on the benches. 
Our tablecloth, when we had any, consisted of sheets of bark, smooth 
side up. They were easily cleaned. Some members of the family 
had their own bowls, but the children had one large bowl out of 
which all ate, dipping in with their wooden spoons. Some were very 
nice spoons with carved birds and animals on the top of the handles. 
Grandmother always kept a large kettle of food warm by the fire and 
everyone who came into the house received a bowl of food. We had 
many visitors,—sometimes twenty. I do not know how she cared for 
them all. A great many Indians and some white men came to see my 
grandfather, William. He was a pine tree chief, and a sort of man 
who gave advice on laws and customs. Uncle Sam was a real chief 
and sat in the Council. Many a night the men sat up until two or 
three o’clock in the morning talking. Then they took blankets and 
rolled up on the floor py the fire and slept until Grandmother arose 
to pound the corn meal for the breakfast porridge. She had some 
help but insisted on doing most of the work herself. 

‘*She slept up-stairs, and there was room for a great many peo- 
ple there. In the garret we had the corn stored and there was a 
great deal of it, because we had so many visitors. Everybody, it 
seems, wanted to stay at our house, and so our home became a gen- 
eral source of news and a place of meeting. No one ever thought 
of paying for food or for lodging and such was not expected. 

‘‘Grandfather had a saw mill and ten or twelve horses. He 
worked a great deal and sold many logs and much lumber. He 
hunted some down the Allegheny, but mostly we raised our own beef 
and pigs. I think he had to work hard to support his large family 
and provide for so many visitors. 

‘Grandmother made baskets. She made a great many of them 
and would take a wagon and team and sell them to the stores in the 


APPENDIX 235 


neighboring towns and villages. She made all kinds of farm bas- 
kets, household baskets and fancy baskets. Once I made some little 
baskets and when I went with her on a trip I sold them for three 
cents each. But, Grandmother could make the real Indian baskets 
too. Some were of corn husk and were thought valuable by the 
Indians. She could make burden straps or tump-lines of slippery elm 
and basswood bark fiber. She made very fine bead-work too and 
Aunt Carrie learned from her. ~ 

‘“My Grandmother always dressed in the old-time costume, until 
after awhile she had white folks’ dresses. Her older clothing con- 
sisted of a beaded broadcloth skirt, an overdress covered with 
brooches, leggins and moccasins, but after awhile she had shoes. It 
was a long time until she had a hat. Her head covering was a small 
shawl made of a sort of wool bunting with a ribboned edge bordered 
with white beads. It was very pretty and I think I like such a 
head-throw now because my Grandmother did. 

‘*Ely, Nick and Carrie were away at school a good deal but 
when they came back they used to play with us children and give us 
things. 

‘“We always talked Seneca in those days and heard little English. 
Long before any of my uncles went to school we used to go to the 
church where the Baptist missionaries came to preach. This always 
had to have interpreters. Now this will interest you because you are 
writing the book about Uncle Ely: 


‘One Sunday the missionary preacher found that there was no 
interpreter. He looked everywhere to find one and after awhile he 
asked Grandfather if his boy could talk English and Grandfather 
said, ‘Yes, a little.’ So Ely was ealled, and he was then twelve 
years old. He was put on the pulpit stand and interpreted the ser- 
mon. Soon it was seen that he was speaking slower and still more 
slowly. By and bye he shut his eyes and then he fell in a faint. 
The effort was too much, and it was his first attempt to speak in 
public, and he didn’t know much English. Maybe the sermon was 
too hard for him to explain, I do not know. After that he went 
away to Canada and after a time came back and went to the Mission 
school where he learned English more perfectly. 

‘*When Ely grew older all the people hoped much for him and 
used to put on his shoulders important tasks. He had access to his 
father’s papers and treaties and learned a great deal about the old 
customs. He always went to the councils and made notes which he 
kept. We had boxes of papers which he kept. Some are the papers 
I have given you for the story of his life. 


236 APPENDIX 


‘After awhile the whites bought up our land across the creek 
and we had to move over on this side. Grandfather built a new house 
which became old after the years went by and then Ely had it fixed 
up with clapboards and shingles. We were always afraid that we 
would lose our land and the people have always been worried. We 
thought soldiers would come and drive us off. This idea so preyed 
upon my mind that just a few years before the Civil War as I was 
crossing a stump lot I looked up, and there was a soldier with a gun. 
He looked at me and I stood for a moment looking at him. I thought 
our time had come, and then I ran to the road and told a company 
of women and a man what I had seen. They just petted me and 
said, ‘We guess not.’ We went through the lot later and there was 
no soldier there. I do not know now whether I just imagined it or 
not. 

“*There were always being held councils at which Grandfather 
and Ely attended. Sometime about 1852 there was a great Condoling 
Council at which Ely was raised to the dignity of Sachem, with the 
name Do-ne-ho-ga-wa. This clipping from the Buffalo Courier tells 
of this event.’’ And Mrs. Doctor gave me the following which may 
be preserved here: 


INDIAN COUNCIL OF THE SIX NATIONS 


A Grand Council of the Confederacy of the Six Nations, to wit: 
The Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Senecas and Tusearoras, 
was held at Tonawanda Friday last, for the purpose of celebrating 
the funeral rites of their Last Grand Sachem, John Blacksmith, de- 
ceased, and electing a Grand Sachem in his place, electing chiefs, ete. 

After the council fire was kindled, the Oneidas, Cayugas and 
Tusearoras advanced in double file, as chief mourners, the leaders 
_ singing the death song. After performing some ceremonies the whole 
band moved to the Council ground, where all the old rules and customs 
of the Confederacy were repeated in song. This occupied a long 
time,—after which the chiefs previously selected were installed, and 
instructed in their duties. 

Ely S. Parker, (Do-ne-ho-ga-wa), was proclaimed Grand Sachem 
of the Six Nations. The Speaker invested him with the silver medal 
presented by Washington to Red Jacket, and worn by him until his 
death. (Mr. Parker, now in official dignity and honor at the head of 
the Six Nations, is an educated man of fine talents and exemplary 
habits, and is one of the Assistant State Engineers). 

Spencer C. Parker, brother of the Grand Sachem, together with 
eight others, were installed as war chiefs, to fill vacancies occasioned 
by death; and the whole proceedings were conducted with great har- 
mony and good feeling. 

“‘ After this council Uncle Ely was looked upon as the man who 


must save his people from the hands of the land stealers, as we called 


APPENDIX 237 


them, who were trying to move us west and take the reservation. 
After a time Ely got the Indians to organize better and secured their 
lands to them, and had the State pass laws guarding their interests. 
Ely had many great friends among the whites and knew Henry 
Schooleraft and Lewis H. Morgan. 

“*T must tell you about Mr. Morgan. I did not see him much 
because my father Levi had his own home and I was a small girl, but 
I heard that Mr. Morgan used to come to talk over old times so that 
he could write a book about the Senecas. He told the old folks a 
good many things, and helped them in many ways. He gave my 
grandmother her first set of dishes, and knives and forks. We never 
had real cups or plates before but only wood and bark dishes and 
earved wood pitchers. When we had these gifts my grandfather 
made chairs and a table. I have that first table here in the house 
now. 

‘“After awhile we heard that Uncle Ely had come back from 
the West to go to war, but he tried and they did not take him. After 
awhile they sent for him and he got ready to go. I was there and 
saw him on a fine black horse. He went to council and the people 
talked with him and asked him to stay with them, for who would be 
their friend if he should be killed, but he said he was determined to 
go and thought he would come back all right. A Batavia paper 
printed this account: 


MEETING OF THE SENECA INDIANS 


Last week a meeting of some six hundred Indians was held at 
the Council House on the Tonawanda Reservation to bid adieu to Ely 
S. Parker, their much respected and beloved chief, who has accepted 
a position in the U. S. Army. Mr. Parker goes as Assistant Adjutant 
General on General Smith’s staff, in Grant’s army, now before Vicks- 
burg, for which position we know of none more fitted, being an experi- 
enced civil engineer, and having heretofore filled responsible situa- 
tions under the Government in that capacity. 

‘“After the war we did not see him much because he was very 


busy in Washington and in New York. His mother died during the 
war and old William soon after. I have this clipping for you, saved 
in an old pocket-book. It tells of Grandfather’s death and the kind 
of man he was. 


DEATH OF A VENERABLE SENECA CHIEF 


The venerable and well known Indian chief, William Parker, 
died recently on the Tonawanda reservation in Genesee County. 

He was the father of Captain Ely S. Parker, one of General 
Grant’s aides, of Nicholson H. Parker, U. S. Interpreter, and of 
Newton Parker. Miss Caroline Parker, an estimable Indian lady, 


238 APPENDIX 


and a graduate of the State Normal School, is, we believe, his only 
daughter. Mr. Parker was on the war-path as scout in the War of 
1812, and was disabled by a severe musket wound in the wrist at the 
sortie of Fort Erie. For his services and wounds he has for many 
years received an invalid pension from the United States Government. 
His wife is the niece of the celebrated Red Jacket. 

William Parker was a man of commanding size, and of a noble 
and dignified presence. He possessed much good sense and discrimi- 
nation and was noted for incorruptible honesty. He was a true man 
and a faithful friend and advisor of his race, and was an associate 
and compeer of those other honest and true chiefs, Jemmy Johnson 
and John Blacksmith. In the long struggles of the Tonawanda band 
against the Ogden Land Company, the modest, calm old Chief Parker, 
was always to be relied upon, and he lived to see his band owners in 
fee of some 8,000 acres of valuable land, and with a large surplus 
invested for their benefit. 


‘““My Grandfather died in the large room in the house where I 
now live,—the dining room being chosen because it was large and 
accessible. He was buried at the side of Grandmother, and between 
her and Uncle Samuel in the very back of the Baptist Cemetery. 
And, thus, you see how the old people have gone. Our ehiefs now 
know little of the struggles of those who spent their lives for the 
Tonawandas. And, as for me, I wish the old times were back again 
because we were happy then, very happy. The few things that I 
have that were owned by Uncle Ely, I want the Buffalo Historical 
Society to have; the relics of the old days, like the false face and the 
rattles I want to have placed in Albany, (in the State Museum) 
where Mr. Morgan and Uncle Ely sent their things, and then all ean 
be together. When this is done my mind will be relieved of its bur- 
den and I shall have done my duty.’’ 


THE BOY WHO DARED TO TRAVEL WEST 
A Legend of Grand Island 


As told by Edward Cornplanter and recorded by A. C. Parker 
(See Chapter II., page 15) 

Ga-non-dai’-ye-o lived with his aged grand parents in the depths 
of a great wood. The old people were always sad but Ga-non-dai’-ye-o 
was never able to discover the cause, and inquiry would only bring 
the injunction, ‘‘Never go west!’’ The boy obeyed and played hap- 
pily in the forest to the north and the south and the east but shunned 
the dark woods to the west. 

At length Ga-non-dai’-ye-o began to reason upon the matter: 

‘‘Never go west,’’ he said to himself. ‘‘Now why may not I 
go west? Is not west as good as east? Surely I am denied my right 


APPENDIX 239 


and shall no longer submit. I am determined to find why west is to 
be avoided.’’ 

Thus determined, he crept cautiously through the vine-bound 
underbrush and with caution advanced in a westerly direction. He 
kept on for some time and then, to his surprise, found himself on the 
borders of a large body of swift water. He looked across the broad 
expanse with admiration and wonder. Was this the sight his grand- 
parents wished to deny him? ‘‘Oh, the shameful rule that forbade 
him this!’’ he thought. While he was gazing at the scene and med- 
itating upon it, he heard a sound behind him. A pleasant voice was 
saying: 

‘<Haih, Haih! Is it not a beautiful stream and wonderful too? 
Did you never see it before? Come, jump into my eanoe and let us 
Visit some of the inlets and isles that are found hereabouts. We will 
return in a short time and you will have seen sights worth talking 
about.’”’ 

Ga-non-dai’-ye-o was charmed with the idea, and following the 
stranger stepped into the canoe that lay on the sandy beach of a cove. 
The stranger gave the canoe a shove with his paddle and sent it 
shooting out from the shore. With swift even strokes he carried it 
far out from the land. 

‘*We shall visit a beautiful island,’’ said the stranger. 

A short distance ahead Ga-non-dai’-ye-o saw a small island in 
the centre of which was a dense clump of trees. It lay near a very 
large island. Such a charming spot was it that he wondered if it had 
as inhabitants men who were ‘‘oweh’’ and not ghosts. Soon the 
eanoe grated upon the beach, and both jumping out, the stranger 
drew up the canoe. ; 

‘*Now,’’ said he, ‘‘look around and see what a fine place this is. 

Oh, you will like it,—you will like it. I do!’’ 
3 Ga-non-dai’-ye-o walked upon the shore toward a tall plant that 
bore flowers. He stood viewing it for a few moments and then 
turning to follow his guide found that he had disappeared. He ran 
to the water to find the canoe, but to his dismay found that it too 
had gone. Glancing up and over the lake he saw far in the distance 
the canoe and the stranger, and then he realized his situation. 

Heavy-hearted he dragged himself half way around the island 
and then walking inland for a few rods sat down dejectedly on a 
fallen tree. Tears filled his eyes and he moaned bitterly, ‘‘ Wo-dis- 
tait, I am a miserable creature.’’ 

While he thus sat lamenting his fate he heard a loud whisper. 
““Kechuta, kechuta!’’ 


240 APPENDIX 


Starting up he looked around to discover the source of the 
sound, but failing, sank back to his seat with a groan of pure misery. 

Presently he heard the same sound, ‘‘Kechuta!’’ It seemed to 
issue from the ground at his very feet. This time he was thoroughly 
frightened, and again he looked about to discover, perchance, who 
the speaker was, but as before he failed and flinging himself upon 
the log began to weep violently. 


‘*‘Kechuta!’’ came the sound again and looking down at the 
ground at the end of the log he noticed a white glistening spot. Pok- 
ing away the sod he saw first the hollow eye sockets of a skull and 
then jaws full of white teeth. 


‘* Kechuta!’’ said the skull, and the Ga-non-dai’-ye-o knew that 
the thing wished to smoke. ‘‘Dig into the sod by that knot on the 
log and you will find my bag and pipe.’’ So spoke the man-reduced- 
to-bones. : 

Marveling, the boy obeyed and soon pulled out a decayed pipe- 
bag and a tobacco pouch. He packed the pipe-bowl full of tobacco. 
Then picking up a hard round stick, the size of an arrow shaft, he 
twisted.it in his bow string, placed a pitted stone on one end and put 
the other end on the log. Pushing his bow backward and forward 
he twirled the stick with great rapidity. Soon a tiny spark ignited 
the wood dust and caught in a blaze on the shredded cedar bark. It 
was a laborious task, but Ga-non-dai’-ye-o at length had the pipe in 
smoking order. Leaning over he pried apart the jaws of Jis-ga, as 
he had named the skeleton, and pushed the pipe-stem between its 
teeth. Jis-ga smoked with great diligence and exclaimed, ‘‘Agwus 
wiu, oh how good, how I enjoy it. I’ve not had a smoke in a great 
while. Oh, I am glad you came to me! Now let me tell you a story; 
but first, fill my pipe again. There! Now, boy, this is an enchanted 
island. You are trapped, the same as I was and the same as many 
more have been. There is a man who lives here. There is a man 
who visits here and there is a man who lures men here. He who lives 
here is Sa-go-we-no-ta, a great sorcerer. He who visits here is 
On-gwe-yas, an evil ogre. Both eat men. They ate me, they ate 
many others, they will eat you, unless you listen closely. Before 
sunrise tomorrow, run to the beach where you landed and bury your- 
self in the sand, leaving one eye and an ear uncovered. Look and 
listen! No one has ever escaped; but you may if you obey me, and 
moreover you may overcome the island’s evil spell.’’ 


The boy solemnly promised obedience and after a restless night 
ran to the beach and buried himself in the sand. Soon he heard the 


APPENDIX 241 


sound of singing on the water. The song grew louder and Ga-non- 
dai’-ye-o knew that the singer was nearing the beach. He heard the 
sound of the canoe as it shot up against the sand and knew that the 
singer had landed. He listened closely to the song and then hummed 
it softly to himself. The sound of footsteps neared and turning his 
eye he saw a man whose grim visage pronounced him a man of ter- 
rible passion. Ga-non-dai’-ye-o looked as well as he could from his 
hole in the sand and knew that was On-gwe-yas. At the feet of the 
ogre was a pack of dogs who followed him up the incline. 


As On-gwe-yas stepped upon the island Sa-go-wa-no-ta sang from 
his den in the grove. 

When On-gwe-yas reached the top of the incline he roared, 
‘Well, where is my meal?’’ 

‘*He can not be found’’ came the answer. 

‘‘Put your eyes in the bushes. Send the dogs after him,’’ 
roared On-gwe-yas, 

The search was fruitless and grumbling in rage the man returned 
to his canoe, threw in his dogs, and jumping in, swept his paddle 
through the water and sped back to mainland. 

Ga-non-dai’-ye-o jumped from his place of concealment and rush- 
ed to the log where Jis-ga lay. Breathlessly he told what he had seen 
and heard and told how thankful he was that he had escaped being 
eaten. 

‘«Smoke,—tobaceco,—I wish to smoke,’’ whispered Jis-ga, 
dustily. So taking an ember from the fire he had started Ga-non- 
dai’-ye-o lit the pipe and shoved it between the teeth of the skull. 
When it had finished smoking it said, 


“‘T am glad that you have succeeded so well. It is an omen of 

good fortune. Now listen. Make seven dolls from dry rotten wood 
and make a small bow and arrow for each; then, place each doll in 
the top of a tree. Conceal yourself in the sand again. See what 
will happen.’’ 
F Ga-non-dai’-ye-o did as directed and the next day when On-gwe- 
yas landed he grumbled loudly and vowed he would find the boy, for 
he was very hungry. He strode up the beach and his dogs with noses 
close to the ground followed the track of Ga-non-dai’-ye-o as it circled 
the isle. Suddenly one dog with a yelp fell, pierced with an arrow 
On-gwe-yas yelled in rage, and his rage increased as one after another 
fell dead. Snatching up the body of each he threw it upon his shoul- 
der and.going back, flung it into his canoe, and then paddled back 
across the lake, 


242 APPENDIX 


Leaping from the sand Ga-non-dai’-ye-o ran back to Jis-ga and 
related his observations. 

After Jis-ga had been satisfied with tobacco he said to Ga-non- 
dai’-ye-o, ‘‘ Now, I will tell you more. On-gwe-yas, always fearing 
death, leaves his heart in his lodge. It hangs suspended over a pot 
of water, likewise the hearts of the dogs. When he returns he will 
place the dogs’ hearts back within their chests and as they beat the 
dogs will revive. He will then remove them and return to the island 
on the morrow to renew his search for you. Now listen closely. Bury 
yourself in the sand as before and as On-gwe-yas approches the shore 
sing the Sa-go-we-no-ta song. On-gwe-yas will then rush up the shore, 
the dolls will shoot again and, while On-gwe-yas is obscured in the 
bushes, jump into his canoe, go directly across the water, and when 
you touch the shore you will find a path that leads to a lodge. Enter 
the lodge and destroy the hearts you find there. Then you may 
return to me.’’ 

The next morning Ga-non-dai’-ye-o covered himself with sand 
and when he heard the song of On-gwe-yas floating over the water he 
shouted back another song in defiance. 

On-gwe-yas stopped short in his song and listened. Then he 
shouted back. 

“*Ho-yo-ho! So you have him. So, I’ll be there!’’ 

From a mound in the center of the island came a voice in plead- 
ing tones. It cried: ‘‘No, no! I did not call you. Do not come. 
Oh, do not!’’ 

“‘Oh, no,’’ came the mocking reply. ‘‘You can not cheat me. 
You have found him and wish to eat him alone.’’ 

Landing, On-gwe-yas ran toward the mound. Ga-non-dai’-ye-o 
jumped into the boat and with his swiftest, strongest strokes sent it 
gliding out over the river. Leaping to the shore he ran up a path 
and burst through the curtain into a lodge. A young girl was refin- 
ing bear oil by boiling it in a kettle. Without stopping to greet her, 
Ga-non-dai’-ye-o cried: 

“Give me his heart!’’ 

‘“No, no, do not touch it. It is his, it is his!’’, remonstrated the 
girl in terror. 

There was the sound of footsteps outside. On-gwe-yas had fol- 
lowed in. some mysterious manner and was now at the door. Spring- 
ing toward the back of the lodge, Ga-non-dai’-ye-o grasped a large 
beating heart. On-gwe-yas was pushing aside the curtain and now 
snarled in terrible rage as he saw the boy who should have been his 
victim holding his heart. With marvelous swiftness Ga-non-dai’-ye-o 


APPENDIX 243 


flung the heart into the pot of boiling fat. The ogre tottered; his 
dogs began to yelp up the trail and as Ga-non-dai’-ye-o glanced 
through the door between the curtain at the swaying body of On-gwe- 
yas, he saw their dripping bodies, red eyes and froth-laden fangs, as 
they leaped toward their master. On-gwe-yas trembled, and fell. 
Ga-non-dai’-ye-o swept the seven dogs’ hearts into the scalding liquid 
only a moment before the ogre crashed his head into the fire, breaking 
the pot of oil and spilling out the hearts. On-gwe-yas was dead, and 
seven dogs lay before the door. 

The girl who during this terrible scene had cringed in one corner, 
now rushed toward Ga-non-dai’-ye-o with a glad cry. 

‘*Oh, my brother!’’ she cried. ‘‘You have rescued me. I am 
your sister who was captured. On-gwe-yas kept me as his slave. Oh, 
my brother, you have saved our family!’’ 

Ga-non-dai’-ye-o hardly knew what to make of these words, but 
looking down at the girl saw in her his lost sister,—lost years ago. 
He rejoiced with her and then running back to the shore paddled 
swiftly to the Isle of Fears. Going up to the log he appeased his 
friend Jis-ga with tobacco and told his story. 

“*Now,’’ said Jis-ga ‘‘you have done well. You can be of great 
service to me if you will obey a few more instructions; for instance, 
shoot that fat bear over there and place her pelt over this little mound 
where I am. Scold that stump and make it move away, so that you 
may cover the mound entirely. Then smoke! ’’ 

Ga-non-dai’-ye-o was startled as he looked up and beheld an 
enormously fat bear asleep, not ten steps from him. Fixing an arrow 
he shot and killed the beast and removed its hide. Walking up to 
the stump, he shouted: 

‘‘What is the matter with you? Get out of my way or I will 
smash you. Go on now.’’ With the help of a kick the stump 
jumped backward into a clump of bushes. Placing the skin over the 
mound Ga-non-dai’-ye-o built a little fire and began to throw on 
tobacco. ' 

The sun was hot and the oil fairly dripped from the skin into 
the ground. 

Ga-non-dai’-ye-o became impatient. ‘‘ What is the trouble with 
you, Jis-ga?’’ he called—Move lively. You are lazy. Hurry or I 
will leave! I can not wait all day! Hurry or I will go!’’ 

There was a slight movement beneath the bear skin. 

‘‘Hurry now,’’ continued the boy, ‘‘or I will pull off the skin,’’ 
and, stooping down he gave it a fling. As he did so from the ground 
arose a company of men. All were quarreling. 


244 APPENDIX 


““You have my legs—my fingers! You have my hands! You 
have my feet! My ribs—my neck,—where is my back bone? Three 
ribs missing—oh,—some one has my whole body— didn’t have time— 
made us hurry—too quick—short notice! Such were the mingled 
cries from the strange swarm. 

Before Ga-non-dai’-ye-o was as queer a company of distorted men 
as the sun has ever seen. Some had one long leg and one short one, 
some were humpbacked, some were small-bodied and large-limbed, 
some had heads on backward, some had no necks, some were double 
the wonted length; and soon each man was a sight to behold. All 
were angry; and fighting, disappeared into the forest, all but one. It 
was Jis-ga. He stepped forward and took Ga-non-dai’-ye-o by the 
hand and said, 

“‘T am your brother, let us go home.’’ 

Hastening to the shore the two seated themselves in the canoe 
and paddled back to the lodge on the opposite bank. A meal awaited 
them and after eating it the boys built a great fire and burned the 
evil lodge. 

That night the three slept in the open. The next morning 
the brothers and their sister tramped through the forest to the lodge 
of their grandparents and found the old people mourning over the loss 
of Ga-non-dai’-ye-o. 

The old folk were exuberant with joy when they found that not 
only was Ga-non-dai’-ye-o well and alive, but also their other grand- 
children. 

The boys built a large lodge and made the days of the old people 
easy with soft beds, much meat and pleasant company. 

Then the grandparents said, ‘‘ We are old and wise, but now we 
know that which we did not before: It is evil to forbid a boy of 
resource to do or to go without a reason.’’ 

So here it ends, this ga-gah, this ancient story. 


HANDSOME LAKE THE PEACE PROPHET! 


(See Chapter II., page 18.) 


One century and eighty-two years have passed since the birth of 
the Peace Prophet. In the wilderness village of Ganawagus on the 
flat lands of the Genesee this prophet was born, but the people of his 
time viewed the tiny unpromising babe not as a possible prophet but 


1. Being a portion of the address delivered by A. C. Parker at the unveiling 
of Handsome Lake’s monument, at Caledonia, 1916. 


APPENDIX 245 


as a hopeless candidate for the highest sachemship the Seneca nation 
could confer upon one of its kinsmen. The child had been born into 
one of the noble families, the Hoyaneh of the Nation of the Great 
Hill. His brothers and cousins were also potential candidates for the 
future honor, and of all this babe was the most likely to be rejected, 
for he was puny and sickly. The Turtle clan took pity on him as he 
became a youth, and with his half brother, the Turtles took him from 
his Wolf Clan relatives and gave him food and training. They hung 
about his neck a strand of wampum and said, ‘‘So long as our arms 
are about you, you shall be as a tree in our midst and may not be 
uprooted; your blood is that of the Clan of the Wolves, but your 
heart shall now be the heart of the Turtles, for they love you.” 

Years passed by,—years of which the recorders of tradition have 
left no writing, and then as if to rebuke the scoffers who predicted 
feebleness of character, this youth, now grown to manhood, has be- 
come the idol of the Clan of Wolves. The women speak of him in 
their bark cabins or while in the fields. They say he is their friend 
and protector. The children love him for he tells them stories of the 
flowers and birds; his pouch is filled with nuts and maple sugar,—he 
is kind to children. Yet this young man is very melancholy and 
seems always to be mourning. He looks to the east and shakes his 
head; the wagon trains of the settlers marching over the Buffalo 
trail fill him with gloom. 

Then as if to bring him good cheer, a fair maiden begs her 
mother to make a marriage proposal to the melancholy young man 
in her behalf. No bashful suitor was the maiden who was so uncon- 
scious a believer in the modern school of eugenics. She chose her 
mate-man, but cumbersome etiquette required that the prospective 
mother-in-law make the proposal. After munching the enormous 
boiled biscuits of the candidate-mother-in-law, the lover meditated 
upon the quality of food he had received, thought over the temper 
and character of the maiden, consulted his mother and asked her to 
eonvey the message of acceptance. Thus in time, the moody hunter 
was married. The clans rejoiced and (we may conjecture) many 
a maiden repaired in silence to the forest to weep out her heart. He 
had defended them and befriended them through sheer courtesy, and 
he loved them, not for mates but merely as women of the nation. But 
such was fate,—there were other and even more handsome men to 
ask! No more would they husk corn with this newly married strip- 
ling and coyly present him with a red ear and demand the forfeit. 

The young man after his marriage became even more popular 
with his people, and upon the death of one of their great sachems, 


246 APPENDIX 


indeed the greatest, the women of the noble families of the Wolf 
clan called upon the adopted Turtle and told him he was their choice. 
Then they went to the National Council and at the ceremony of con- 
dolence placed their nomination before the sachems. The men, no 
doubt, were astonished, for their candidate was a young man of the 
Hoyaneh Wolves who was mighty of muscle and skilled in the chase. 
But since the women held the sole power of nomination and would not 
nominate the man of mighty muscle, Wolf clansman though he be, 
there was but one course to follow. The thin young man was elected 
to the highest civil office in the gift of the populous Nation of the 
Great Hill. He was given the name-title Ga-nio-dai’‘yu or Skana- 
dario, translated Handsome Lake. The people hailed him as their 
wisest councillor, but though he was wise in plans for calling other 
men to action, he was still moody and his bride failed to bring him 
the cheer that she had hoped. 

The white men came in increasing numbers. Their settlements 
were everywhere, and with the wilting of the forests, farms and 
pastures became verdant. 


The Senecas began their westward retreat. The broken nation 
that was left by the army of General Sullivan was an unhappy nation 
and even all the assurances of President Washington or of General 
Dearborn or of Colonel Timothy Pickering failed to make them feel 
secure. In the setting of every sun they saw the symbol of their 
national decadence. The symbol was reflected in the eyes of Hand- 
some Lake, who had been a silent party to the signing of the Treaty 
of Canandaigua in 1794. Foolishly he had accepted the trader’s 
tum, hoping to forget his sorrows. His wife had died and more rum 
was required; Handsome Lake renewed his mourning. Her death 
was a heavy blow. Then one of his two daughters died and Hand- 
some Lake laid her away in the gravelly hillock at Canawagus. He 
drank more until he could not live, it seemed, without the fiery liquor. 
As a sachem and councillor he was failing. He was becoming an 
outcast; he might lose his title and awaken to disgrace. Leaving 
the Genesee country he moved to the banks of the Allegany and 
took up his abode in a solitary cabin of bark. The Indians were 
debauched with the brandy and rum from the Pittsburgh traders. All 
was anarchy; the old religion was failing, the old government of 
the Iroquois League was crumbling; there was a riot of superstition. 
The bleared eyes of the drunkard could not fail to see the misery 
of his people. He mourned again and sought consolation in the con- 
tents of the black bottles that the trader gave for beaver pelts. Then 
he became an invalid. Long tedious days he laid in his lonely cabin, 


APPENDIX 247 


hungry, thirsty,—sick unto death. The wild whoops of the carous- 
ing lumbermen reached his ears and now and then a bullet, widely 
fired, would whistle through his doorway, now hanging by one raw- 
hide hinge. At length his daughter came and offered to care for 
him daily. Her heart was touched with pity for her father whom 
as a child she remembered so tender and thoughtful. Sometimes he 
conversed with her telling her what he thought of the things he saw. 
The sunlight streaming down the smoke hole caused him to think of 
what sunlight meant and of the maker of the sun and its light and 
warmth. The stars and the moon gave him food for reflection; the 
gusts of wind, the odor of the flowers, the songs of the birds, all 
gave him messages of wisdom and of comfort. Even his pain-racked 
body, shrunken and weak, responded to the questioning mind of the 
invalid and taught him philosophy. Each day, he tells us in his 
book of revelations! he hoped that the dawning wisdom and faith 
would restore him, for his mind was exhilarated by the inspiration 
of clean, sober thinking. Then, one morning, as the daughter was 
singing at her task of shelling beans for her husband to plant, Hand- 
some Lake, the sachem, upon his hard couch in the cabin, dropped 
into a swoon and his spirit slipped away for a long journey to the 
sky-world. With his last feeble gasp his daughter and her husband 
heard him reply as if answering a summons, ‘‘Niyuh,’’ meaning, 
**So be it.’’ Just before this they had heard him rise from his 
bed and totter to the door. They rushed from the shed were they 
were working together and heard him murmuring as he staggered 
to the door-post. They caught him as he fell, and carried him back 
to his bed. 

Apparently Handsome Lake was dead. The great Governor 
Blacksnake, (Awl Breaker) and Cornplanter were called and both 
bowed their heads. The sachem, they said, was dead. With loving 
eare the daughter dressed him for burial, and the insignia of his 
sachemship was laid upon his breast ready to be placed about the 
neck of his successor. Then the mourners filled the cabin; group 
by group they came as the news spread. They looked at the shrunken 
form and it was said, ‘‘He is but a shriveled yellow skin and all his 
bones are dry.’’ Four years of sickness has terminated in death, 
but the Awl Breaker would not believe that the sachem was passed 
away. His hands continually moved over the chest and limbs of the 
prostrate sachem as if feeling- for one, only one feeble pulse-beat. 


1. “The Code of Handsome Lake,” recorded by A. C. Parker. Bulletin 163, 
N. Y¥. State Museum. 


248 APPENDIX 


After thus searching for a sign of life Awl Breaker arose and 
exclaimed, ‘‘ Hold back your grief, my friends and relatives. I have 
a sure belief that Handsome Lake yet lives.’’ Silently Cornplanter, 
the leading chief of the Allegany Senecas, approached his half- 
brother and placed his hand over his heart. There was a warm spot 
there, and he knew that indeed his sachem lived. The noon came 
and in faith the watchers continued to await some further sign of 
vitality. The noon hour came and the morning dew had dried. The 
cool evening approached and then, quietly the quick inhalation of 
a breath was heard, and then the eyes of Handsome Lake opened 
and slowly gazed at the throng. 

The Awl Breaker addressed the sachem: ‘‘My brother, are 
you now recovered?’’ he asked quietly. 

In a clear low voice the mourners heard the reply, ‘‘I have faith 
that I have been restored.’’ 

When he had thus satisfied the fears and solicitude of his friends 
he spoke again: ‘‘ Never have I seen such wondrous visions,’’ he said. 
‘«Three shining messengers and a fourth I could not see, have deliv- 
ered to me a mission that I must perform for the benefit of our 
nation. ’’ 

A council was called in the morning of the next day and all were 
asked to drink the sweet juice of the wild strawberry as a ceremonial 
invocation for bodily health. Then the risen sick man, whose eyes 
now burned with a strange fire, told of the ‘‘four words’’ he had 
been called to condemn for the salvation of the race. The ‘‘four 
words’’ were the names of the besetting sins of the demoralized 
Iroquois,—Onega, the use of liquor; Gutgont, the practice of witch- 
craft; Onottyeyende, the practice of secretly poisoning enemies; and, 
Yondwiniyas swayas, the practice of birth-control. More than this, 
he explained the necessity of a renewed love of one’s fellow men, of 
the responsibility for another’s welfare, of the love and eare of 
children, of the sacredness of the rites of hospitality, of chaste, clean 
lives, of listening to the silent voices that called men to do good,— 
constructive good, and of the value of peace and industry. 

Handsome Lake spoke to a disheartened people who had suffered 
defeat, fraud and the humiliation of national weakness. The gloom 
of these things had darkened the minds of the nation and a dispair- 
ing people had sought forgetfulness in debauchery. Poverty and 
misery had come, and the mighty Senecas, broken and besotted, bled 
out their hearts. 

A victim of such conditions, Handsome Lake the sachem stalked 
from the gloom as a prophet holding up as a beacon light of hope 
his divine message, the Gaiwiyu. He became a commanding figure. 


APPENDIX 249 


in spite of his constitutional timidity. He created a new system and 
gave his people something to think about, to talk about and finally 
a code of ethics which they were to live. His message, whether false 
or true from modern ways of thinking, was a creation of their own 
and afforded a thought nucleus about which they could cluster them- 
selves and fasten their hopes. He claimed to be only a speaker, a 
proclaimer of the will of the Creator,—he made no pretense as a 
Messiah, and indeed, never called himself a prophet, though he was 
one in every sense of the word. 

A revolution was created in the religious life of the people. At 
first his followers were few and his popularity as a sachem did not 
bring popularity as a prophet. He was despised, ridiculed and sub- 
jected to bodily insult and injury. Yet he persisted, overcoming the 
ealumny of Red Jacket and the difficulties put in his path by his 
half-brother, Cornplanter. Within ten years a drunken nation had 
become sober, and not only the Seneca, but the Cayuga and the 
Onondaga nations had listened and cast aside the destroying drink. 
The message of Handsome Lake had become potent. Wars must 
cease, he said, and his emissaries held back the participation of his 
people in the wars of the western Indians, calling them from the 
ranks of Pontiac, of Tecumseh and of Little Turtle, The Miami. Men 
were to live in peaceful relationship, to be industrious and humble. 
The pride of the over-prosperous must cease, the poor and the incom- 
petent were to be helped to help themselves, superstitions were to 
give way to the code laid down by the Heavenly Messengers. 

So successful was Handsome Lake that the Quaker missionaries 
of 1804 have left the testimony that not one of the followers of 
Handsome Lake was a user of fire-water; and indeed, the whole nation 
refused to touch it. 

Persecution at Allegany caused the Prophet and his followers 
to remove to Tonawanda in about 1810 or 1812. With him went his 
grandson Sos-he-o-wa who later became his successor. (In passing 
it may be well to record that Sos-he-o-wa was the grandfather of 
General Ely S. Parker, known to his own people as Donehogawa, 
the Keeper of the Western Door.) At Tonawanda the call came 
from the divine messengers urging him to go to the land of the Onon- 
dagas. It was the ‘‘third call,’’ and required a parting song. Hand- 
some Lake then remembered that the spirits had told him he would 
sing three songs, and the third would precede his death. Nevertheless 
he began his journey. He was prematurely old and the efforts at 
reform that he had made had drained heavily upon his nervous energy. 
As he took up the march overland with his faithful bodyguard he 
knew that the end was near. He feared that in his prophecy he 


250 APPENDIX 


had not given due prominence to the fourth and hidden messenger 
of the Creator, the man who appeared in the sky world and showed 
to him a pierced side and feet and hands pierced with nails. That 
thought tormented him. He reached Onondaga only to sink to the 
ground in melancholy. The young men strove to cheer him and 
arouse his spirits by a dashing game of lacrosse, but he arose and 
said, ‘‘The path has appeared before me, I see my journey is to 
commence, I shall make ready to go to the land of the Creator, for 
whom I have been a spokesman.’’ 

Only a few witnessed his death agony, and these pledged them- 
selves to secrecy. An Onondaga hidden in the cabin saw the death 
unobserved by others and has left the tradition that Handsome Lake 
cried out in anguish, ‘‘I have delivered the message, there were 
things I should have told but I feared to tell. Good came from all 
I said, but greater good might have come if I had dared to preach 
all I was commanded.’’ And then the spirit of the sachem and of the 
prophet slipped away. His spirit began its journey over the sky- 
trail. Four days later a shrunken body was laid away beneath the 
floor of the council house, the capitol building of the Six Nations’ 
League. There were impressive ceremonies and the disciples of the 
New Religion were in full control of the national religion of the 
League of the Iroquois. Hardly a single follower of the ancient 
way remained,—all were either Christians or Ganiodaiyuans. 

In fifteen years this man, risen as if from the dead, had trans- 
formed the religious and intellectual life of a nation. For a man 
who until he was 65 years of age had been a drunkard, a failure 
and a dying invalid, to arise after being bedridden for four years 
and walk forth as the spirtual preceptor of his race, is a remarkable, 
even a startling thing. Yet he did so, living soberly until the day 
when at four score years of age he was called to the happy realm 
of the Great Manitou to give account of his mission. 


The sages of the people called together the wise elders and dis- 
cussed the doctrines of Handsome Lake and chosen priests were 
caused to memorize all the messages of his Gai-wi-yu so that it might 
be preached to all the members of the Six Nations, even as the 
Prophet had preached. Then the wise men wrote a new stanza to 
the national thanksgiving hymn known as the Go-ne-o-wa, and there- 
after the Indians sang: 


‘The Creator willed that a chosen one 
Should reveal his wisdom to all mankind. 
And that Gaiwiyu should be expounded. 
And so he called Ganiodaiyu to him 


o 
| 4 


28 sacl ve teed, , 


eae * fai hoe ne ag ane? vi ale 


SUT OS: 
sa lls Se 


fas. oracera ig ltr a eS. obey he ee 
Paes, oa Bei denrirn RLS Br fern oh. ~ 
es ; efi 


COL tae oe Marra orre Mate ee. a AL 
‘ w 


~ 
becia let ae Meee Chet bom Fe OTH 


hike yo the. a Lens st 


ee 


4 
me 


A ; * oy 30 
Co: ad. Be ns Ohi 4 ot CR 
“ ER 
em rae at PS i Ls Ks F| 


HANDSOME LAKE’S CREDENTIALS FROM THE WAR 
DEPARTMENT 


APPENDIX 251 


That all his wishes might be fulfilled. 

So Ganiodaiyu responded truly 

And proclaimed the message until he died. 

We give thee thanks for he did his duty. 

And we follow in the way he taught us 

We shali not forget, but shall remember; 

O, Thou, who doest live Above, Our Maker! 

Now the incense of thanksgiving rises, 

We shall follow Handsome Lake our Prophet! 
Gwi-yah, we praise thee with our joyful dancing!’’ 


The years have passed and even as the veiled spirit in the 
Heaven world predicted, as he held up his bleeding pierced hands, the 
teachings of Handsome Lake are waning. Only a few hundred may 
be reckoned as true followers and many half believers are worse for 
their half belief, for they have degenerated. The environment that 
made a religion efficacious has passed away leaving its practice almost 
a mockery. The Indian’s world has become the white man’s world 
and yet the faithful few try to worship the old way, wearing store- 
made clothes and cooking the feasts in granite ware kettles 
sweetening their cakes with domino sugar, flavoring their berry 
juices with coal-tar products and using packing-house beef, instead 
of the fresh flesh of the bear. The social and economic order all 
about them is the white man’s, not theirs. How long may they 
oppose their way to the overwhelming forces of modern civilization, 
and still exist as efficient men? How long will they seek to meet 
the overwhelming forces of modern requirements with the simple de- 
vices of their ancestors, who planned not for the exingencies of a 
rapidly changing order? 

My Indian friends will answer: ‘‘Of these things we do not 
inquire, we only have faith that the Great Ruler will care for us if 
we are faithful.’’ Asked about the clothes they wear and the food 
they eat and the mill-board long-house in which they worship, they 
reply: ‘‘All these things may be made of the white man’s mate- 
rials but they are outward things. Our religion is not one of cloth- 
ing, of paint, or of feathers; it is a thing of the heart.’’ That is 
the answer, it is a thing of the heart,—who can change it? 


THE RELIGION OF HANDSOME LAKE 
(See Chapter II., page 18.) 

Here follows a translation of the speech made by Jimmy John- 
son at the Grand Council of the Confederacy of Iroquois held at the 
Indian Village at Tonawanda, Oct. 2nd and 3rd, 1845. This speech 
is an abridgement of his annual speech, or rather a repetition in 


252 APPENDIX 


brief of the religious precepts pretended to have been communicated 
to the Iroquois from heaven.1 

The Onondagas and Senecas, and our children the Oneidas, 
Cayugas and Tuscaroras, have convened here today for the purpose 
of listening again to the speaking of the will of the Great Spirit, 
as communicated to us, through his Great Prophet Ganyodyoh or 
Handsome Lake. We would therefore give you all a hearty welcome. 


The day is far advanced and the sun is now going down. I 
will therefore proceed immediately to the performance of my duties. 
Brothers, turn your minds toward the Great Spirit, and listen with 
good and strict attention. First, I want all, old and young, to know 
how long ago it was since the Great Spirit communicated his religion 
to us. It is now 46 years since the Great Spirit spoke to the Indians 
through his Prophet, and since that time we have attempted to live 
faithfully. Ganyodyoh told us, he lay sick four years. He says, 
‘‘T had assigned myself to the determination of the Great Spirit. 
I thanked Him for every ray of light which entered my cabin, pro- 
ceeding from the daily sun. In the morning I meditated on the 
future, and expected not to see the dusk of evening. I was more 
faithful therefore to the discharge of my daily duties. But evening 
came and through the opening in the roof of my cabin I looked 
upon the stars which the Great Spirit has made to serve as ornaments 
in the heavens. Again I returned my greatful thanks to my Creator, 
and again resigned myself to him, expecting not to behold the light 
of another morning.’’ 

In this manner his sickness was prolonged for years. At one 
o’clock however, he says he told his daughter, very early in the morn- 
ing, to request his relatives and friends to come in and see him once 
more, as the sensations in him predicted that something extraor- 
dinary was to befall him. The friends convened, but he was dead. 
A small spot directly over the heart was discovered to be warm. At 
nine o’clock he opened his eyes and was asked if he saw aright. But 
he could not speak and again closed his eyes. At noon he again 
revived and opened his eyes. Being asked by one near if he could 
see anything, he replied in the affirmative. He then was asked what 
he saw. He replied as follows: 

‘‘This morning a man eame into my cabin, and wished me to 
follow him out of doors. I did not feel strong enough to do so. But 
I arose to go out. At the door I stumbled and fell. Three men 


1. Translation by E. S. Parker, verbatim from the original manuscript. 


APPENDIX 253 4 


standing at the door caught me in their arms, They said, ‘we have 
come to help you. Haste, and eat of the fruit of these branches.’ 

‘Hach one held a branch in his hand, bearing different kinds 
of fruits and of different colors. The men were clothed in pure 
white. They said that they were sent by the Great Spirit. At 
different times it has pleased the Great Spirit to make known His 
will to his people through men, but they have all proved unfaithful. 
He expects you to be faithful. He has heard your prayers and 
receives your thanks for his preservation of your life. His mind 
is that you shall yet live among your people many days. Tomorrow 
your people must convene in meeting and have a religious dance, 
and at noon you must go in and look upon your friends.’? 

The people did as they were directed. At noon he entered the 
council room and looked upon the mass of the congregated people. 
He then proceeded to tell the council what the men in white had told 
him to say to the council. He said: 

‘‘The men spoke to me thus: ‘Tell your people the will of 
the Great Spirit. They have sinned a great sin and have greatly 
trangressed against his laws in getting drunk. You sin greatly in 
getting drunk. The fire-waters were not made for the Indians, 
and it will ruin them if they continue to use them. The fire-waters 
were made for the white people. They are laboring men and they 
need some stimulant; therefore the Creator gave them the fire-waters 
to drink, three times a day. But they too have violated the laws 
and regulations given to them by their Creator. In introducing this 
drink among the Indians, they have committed a great sin and as 
a punishment they will never get to heaven. Tell your people all. 
Travel among them and be yourself a temperate man. Tell your 
people that they have committed four great sins. Too many of the 
Indians are proud and haughty. Repent therefore and escape the 
penalty. Repent in open council. If some of the people are 
too timid to confess and repent before the council they may speak 
to you (that is the Prophet) in private, saying ‘‘I repent.’’ We 
(the angels) will hear and forgive. Since the Creation of all things, 
we have always been the guardians of earth and its inhabitants, 
And if they can not speak to you, let them form the new resolution 
in the mind, that they repent and they shall see the Great Spirit. 
The Great Spirit did not design when he created man and woman, 
that women should be barren. To deprive themselves of the gener- 
ative organs, therefore, is a great sin. Repent of the evil among 
you. Some women come into the world barren. In order, there- 
fore, for such to fill the position designed for them, they must adopt 
children and love them as though they were their own. Those doing 


254 APPENDIX 


this shall see the Great Spirit. Also they may adopt orphans and 
bring them up in virtuous principles. This also is good in the mind 
of the Great Spirit. If you tie up the clothes of an orphan child, 
the Great Spirit will notice it and reward you for it. Universal 
benevolence and hospitality is good. The Great Spirit, in institut- 
ing the marriage rite, intended that the parties should love one an- 
other. It is wrong, therefore, to use O-noh-ate.2 This practice He 
says is ruinous, repent and use it no more. It is the will of the 
Great Spirit, that husband and wife shall love one another. If they 
are helped with children, whenever they become of a proper age, they 
must marry them to an old, experieneed person. If they in turn are 
helped with children, let them unite in offering grateful thanks to 
the Great Spirit when they have grand-children, they must be more 
thankful, for they can not make their gratitude too manifest. When 
a young woman becomes pregnant, it is very wrong to circulate 
false stories concerning her and her husband, for in so doing it may 
cause a separation. This in the sight of the Great Spirit, is a great 
wrong. Should a man leave her under such circumstances, a great 
punishment awaits him. In this thing the old people did right, but 
the Great Spirit wished to renew old things. Parents, teach your 
children virtuous principles. You all know how great a trouble it 
was to bring up your children, therefore, teach them to walk in the 
paths of virtue. Children, obey your parents. If you do not will- 
ingly submit to the will and requirements of your parents, you will 
cause them to feel bad and to shed many tears. Disobedient children 
are sent to hell. It is the will of the Great Spirit, that those children 
who disobey their parents, should repent and disobey them no more. 
It is wrong for a father or mother-in-law, to vex or harass a son 
or daughter-in-law. But they must use them as if they were their 
own children. When a child is born it is wrong for the father and 
mother of it to hold disputes over its body. The child hears and 
understands all that is said, and it often feels bad; and unless the 
parents put an end to their disputes and bitter contentions, will 
return to the home of the Great Spirit. Parents should exercise 
love towards their children. Adultery is a great sin, and the Great 
Spirit says, do not commit adultery. It is wrong to whip children 
with the rod. If you wish to correct a child, use cold water. Tell 
them, ‘‘I shall either sprinkle or plunge you.’’ If the child says, 
‘T shall do better,’ then stop. 


2. This probably would be nothing more than excessive passionate love. The 
Indians say, that this is a substance and that it has such a charming power, that 
the person under its influence can not separate himself or herself from the charmer. 
It is evident that it is not a pure love, for sometimes the parties hate one another 
to such a degree, as to be forced to come to blows, and yet the person charmed 
eares nothing about it. 


APPENDIX 255 


“*Tt has been the custom among the Indians to mourn for the 
dead one year. This custom is not right. It causes the death of many 
children, therefore, do it no longer. Ten days mourn for the dead 
and no more.3 When a person is dead, it is right and proper to 
make a speech over the body, telling how much loved the deceased. 
Great respect for the dead, among the Indians must be observed. 
To be a tattler or tale bearer is very wrong. It is the root of great 
evil. Repent and do it no longer. 

‘*To prove the position that alcohol is ruinous, we would say: 
that men using the fire waters, are apt to freeze, to get drowned, to 
be burned to death and a great many fights arise out of it.’’ 

Jimmy Johnson says there are a great many opposers to our 
religion. Some oppose it, by having too great an appetite for the 
fire water, manufactured by the whites. Others oppose it by dis- 
believing the Indian religion, and embracing the religion of the 
whites. There is however one class, who are strong in the belief of 
the Indian and who have a great desire for the perpetual existence 
of the Indians as a Nation; and that all things among the Indians 
may go off with success and prosperity. The Prophet told the In- 
dians that the angels were happy whenever they heard two friends 
discoursing about doing good to their fellowmen. But whenever 
they heard two friends differ in opinion respecting the propriety of 
doing good to man, and they continued to dispute, they were sorry 
and wished the Indians to know that this was very wrong. The 
Great Spirit implanted a principle in the human mind, which should 
incline mankind to sympathize with one another. The principle is 
always exercised for the good. Be firm and resolute in doing that 
which is good. 

At one time the Angels desired the Prophet to go with them to 
make a visit to the home of the Evil Spirit: Together they directed 
their steps thitherward. Having approached to the house, they 
placed themselves near in order therefore that the Prophet might 
see the inner part of the house to a good advantage. The outer of 
the house was raised up. The first object that met his eye was a 
haggard-looking man—his sunken eyes cast upon the ground and his 
form nearly half consumed from the many torments he had under- 
gone. This man was a drunkard. For just at this moment, the 
Evil One coming up to him and taking him by the arm, led him to 
the side of a great kettle containing red hot lead. Out of this kettle 


3. It is the practice among the old Indians, to this day, upon the tenth day 
to call together the friends of the deceased, and then make a public disposal of 
whatever effects he had. 


256 APPENDIX 


the Evil One dipped a large quantity of fiery liquid, and commanded 
the person whom he held by the hand to drink it for, he says, the 
liquid will have the same effect, as the fire-waters manufactured by 
the whites, and will produce precisely the same sensations. The man 
took of the fiery liquid, but no sooner was it taken, than he filled 
the air with the most horrid cries; a lambent flame and a light smoke 
immediately issued from his mouth. The fiery waters of earth, 
says the Evil One, possess the same qualities as this. Any one might 
as well drink red hot lead as to drink alcohol (called by the Indians 
fire-water). 

The next object the Prophet discovered was a woman, being led 
by the Evil One between two great kettles. He took and plunged 
her into one of the kettles. Her increasing shrieks evinced that 
she was in great torment, for she begged the Evil One to give her 
some colder place, she was too hot, she was afraid that she would be 
consumed by the heat. He then took and plunged her into the other 
kettle. But in a moment her cries again filled the air. She was 
complaining that it was too cold. This woman, says the Prophet, 
was a witch; she shall always be tormented in this manner, forever 
and ever, at one time being plunged into boiling liquid, the next into 
liquid upon the point of freezing. 

The next incident witnessed by the Prophet, was the calling 
together of a husband and wife, who when on earth were in the habit 
of continuously disputing and contradicting one another. Having 
set them near one another, the Evil Spirit commanded them to dis- 
pute with one another now, as they were accustomed to do when on 
earth. They indeed did commence but had not proceeded far, before 
their tongues began to run out, so that they could no longer talk. 
This the Prophet said would be the fate of such characters. 

The Great Spirit has proposed a way for all to get to heaven. 
Therefore when any one does wrong, they must repent and put them- 
selves in the right way immediately, for unless they do it, they may 
get lost. 

Ganyodyoh was very particular in explaining to us the course 
which departed spirits were accustomed to take upon their exit from 
this world and entrance into another world. There was a road which 
led upward; in a short distance the road forked, one branch keeping 
a straight forward course while the other angled off in an entirely 
different course. At the point where the roads separated were sta- 
tioned two men; one a man deputized by the Great Spirit, the other 
of the Evil One. Whenever a person died they took the road leading 
upward; having arrived at the point of the separation of the two 
roads, if he was a wicked person, by a motion from the man of the 


APPENDIX 257 


Evil One, they instinctively turned into the roads leading to the 
abodes of the Tormentor. But if a person was good, the contrary 
would follow. That is, they would follow the straight path leading 
to the home of the Great Spirit. The straight path the Prophet 
said was not much traveled, while the other was completely trodden 
so that, he says, no grass could grow in the path. He says it some- 
times happens that the judges have great difficulty in determining 
which road the person ought to take. For sometimes the good and 
bad actions are so nearly balanced that it requires some time to 
determine which outweighed. When persons are sent to hell, they 
sometimes remain there for a day, and some for a longer time. (One 
day in hell is one of mortal years), and atone for their sins and 
then passing on to heaven. But those guilty of the unpardonable 
sins shall never pass from hell to heaven, but should be tormented 
in hell forever and ever. 


The Prophet was then commanded to look upon earth. He 
looked and behold, there was a great gathering of the people! The 
first object which attracted his attention, was a man naked, running 
through the midst of the people. Behind him followed an innumer- 
able number of women. They followed him because he like them- 
selves loved fire-water very much. Next came two naked women, 
seemingly young. Their fault was coquetry. Their punishment was 
in being exposed naked to the whole assembly. He saw also a woman 
rolling a dust sack. This woman was punished for what is com- 
monly called a stingy woman. He also saw a man running through 
the midst of the people, with a large piece of meat in his hand. This 
was a benevolent man, willing to give to all whom chance might hap- 
pen to throw into his way. The Great Spirit designed that all men 
like myself should be benevolent. 


Again the Prophet was commanded to look towards the east. He 
looked and saw the smoke of a thousand distilleries using and shut- 
ting out the light of the Sun. The angels told the Prophet that when 
the Great Spirit became tired or weary of the existence of the earth, 
he should burn it. The first earth he destroyed by water, but the 
second he will burn with fire. This he will do on account of the 
wickedness of the earth’s inhabitants. The Great Spirit made all 
good things. He made the winds and the clouds, heat and cold, but 
the devil made the witches, subject however to the will of the Great 
Spirit. At one time he attempted to kill them, but they fled into the 
earth. When the end of the world approaches, the witches will come 
out of their retreats, for the purpose of tormenting wicked people. 
The sun will be removed and there will be a great smoke upon earth. 


258 APPENDIX 


All good folks then living upon earth will then leave for heaven. The 
wicked will perish upon earth. 

The influence of Indian preachers may not always be good. ‘‘ But 
if you (the Prophet) in any degree lose your influence among your 
people, if you are faithful to your religion, we (the angels) shall 
abide with you and comfort you. Preachers should have assistants. 
For his holy Prophet Ganyodyoh, the Great Spirit, raised aids.’’ 
The angels said that they respected the aids of the Prophet, because 
they were religious officers, and not mere dignitary chiefs. ‘‘Let the 
assistants thank the Great Spirit when the time draws near for them 
to act. When they have completed, they must renew their thanks 
to Him. All religious officers are placed in the path that leads to 
heaven and if they resign their offices they put themselves out of the 
way and they will find more difficulty in travelling in the wrong way, 
but the firm and faithful will be happy in heaven. I therefore exhort 
all my assistants to be firm and faithful in the principles of the 
religion entrusted to their charge. The Indians have many songs 
after which they dance for amusement. These same songs will be sung 
by the happy in heaven. As for instance, the grand religious dance, 
which is performed by the Indians at all their feasts; that also will 
be danced in heaven and the Indians say that the Great Spirit him- 
self will be the singer. The angels commanded the Prophet to request 
the Indians to convene in council upon the Tonawanda Reservation. 
They assured him that if he made the request the Indians would 
convene. When the council convened the Indians began to confess 
and repent before the Prophet. The Indians from Geneseo also did 
the same. After they had all finished some of the Indians from the 
east wished the Prophet to tell whether all the Indians who had con- 
fessed to him and wished to repent, had spoken from the heart. The 
Prophet answered that some had not. Whereupon some immediately 
arose and confessed that they had not spoken the feelings of their 
hearts, but were only testing the Prophet. 

Se-gwa-an-doh-gwe (called in English, John Littlebeard) had 
such a great anxiety to live justly, obeying the will of the Great 
Spirit that at one time he requested the Prophet to ask the angels 
what thing he lacked. (John Littlebeard it is said was a great fa- 
vorite of the Prophet and was his constant and faithful companion 
in all his travels among the Six Nations). The Prophet reported to 
Littlebeard and to the Indian in Council, that the angels said his 
fault was being a double-minded man. This is, he believed the 
Christian as well as the Pagan or Indian religion. Thus Littlebeard 
was made a man of no decision of character.4 


4. Immediately upon the death of Ganyodyoh, Littlebeard left the ranks of 
Paganism and joined himself to the Christian church then established among the 
Indians and remained firm in the belief of that religion. 


APPENDIX 259 


The Prophet was commanded to look into the dwelling of the 
white man. He looked and saw fetters for binding and securing 
eriminals, ropes for hanging murderers, and whips for subduing the 
disobedient and obstinate. He beheld a great variety of torturing 
instruments, which he said awaited the Indians if they attempted 
to live after the manner of the whites. Again, it is the will of the 
Great Spirit, that the young shall love and reverence the aged, even 
though they be helpless as infants—he desired that they receive good 
eare,—that no reasonable pains be foregone which would have a ten- 
deney to increase their unhappiness upon earth. There is a great 
disrespect generally paid to the old people; this is not right, but the 
contrary should be practiced. Children must not separate themselves 
from their parents nor must they, when the strength of their parents 
begin to fail, turn them out of doors. But they must love them and 
be kind to them, for this is right and pleasing to the Great Spirit. 

‘*At one time there was a difficulty among the people of the 
Prophet and the Prophet himself. The angels advised the Prophet 
to leave Allegany and that from that place he should take three 
steps, where he should settle himself down forever. The first step he 
took was to go to Tonawanda. From this place he looked to 
Onondaga. 

‘This is what Ganyodyoh used to tell us, and all has indeed 
happened according to his words. Chiefs, warriors, women and 
children continued to listen. Leave the fire-water and be a special 
people of the Great Spirit. We once more say to you all, touch not, 
nor taste the fire-water. Many are imprudent in violating the laws 
regulating health and these die a premature death. This again is 
wrong. You will do well to fill the number of your days. The In- 
dians were once in great darkness, but have now received the light. 
We think that the great prevailing sin among the Indians is drunk- 
enness, and we desire to say all we can in order to render it abhorrent 
to all. Rum-sellers have no flesh on their hands. They have nothing 
but horns. We entreat you warriors that none of you sell the fire- 
water.’ 

Jimmy Johnson here observed that he believed his religion to 
be true and, says he: ‘‘I shall always adhere to it as the only true 
religion for me.’? Jimmy Johnson proceeds, exhorting the Indians 
to be moral. The Prophet used to preach that playing and dancing 
after the fiddle and playing cards was very wrong. The Indians 
must not use nor even touch them, nor must they adopt any of the 
gambling practices invented by the whites. The Indians themselves 
haye dances and they can practice them innocently. The angels told 
the Prophet to tell the Indians that it was very wrong to sell any 


260 APPENDIX 


of the lands which the Great Spirit had made and given to the In- 
dians for their possession and occupancy. The Great Spirit did not 
make it, to be the property of the old people, but for the possession 
of the children. Indians who persist in selling lands must expect 
to meet a great punishment after death. 

In one of the expeditions of the Prophet into the upper regions, 
he chanced to meet his friend Ho-na-ya-wus, otherwise called Farm- 
er’s Brother, drawing sand. He said that from a great heap of sand, 
he was taking a grain of sand at a time, and although laboring con- 
tinually the heap of sand did not diminish. Such, he said, would 
be the punishment of those continually selling lands. Like Farmer’s 
Brother, although working incessantly at the heap of sand, yet he 
could not diminish its proportions, so the Indian who sells land, 
although he might sell continually, yet he never could dispose of all 
the lands. The angels are said to have advised the Indians to always 
act with unanimity. If they did not, the white people, seeing their 
divisions, would creep in among them, establishing themselves among 
them and finally gain complete advantage over them. Jimmy John- 
son had observed saying, that all was indeed coming to pass agreeably 
to the words of the Prophet. 

The Prophet told of the events of a future war. This the 
Preacher says has all happened. The Prophet said that the day 
would come when the white people would try hard to buy the land 
of the Indians. Says he: ‘‘If the Indians do not act with unanimity, 
they will be the sufferers.’ The angels told the Prophet also that 
such a great difficulty would come from the fact that there would be 
sO many parties, that the angels themselves were ignorant what the 
final result of them would be. The Prophet was commanded to look 
at the Indian village situated upon the Buffalo Creek Reservation. 
He turned and looked, but where was it? Naught was now to be 
seen of the village but the decaying remnants of wigwams, which 
clearly evinced that sometime, many years ago, the princely lords of 
the soil lived there. This the Prophet predicted to happen to our 
people. You can all bear witness what he said should happen is com- 
ing to pass. It has been the custom among the Indians when yet 
living in darkness, to have a barrel of whisky whenever they had 
their dances. But the angels prohibited this practice and substituted 
for whisky, provisions. They said that the substituting of provisions 
would be not only agreeable to themselves, but far more pleasing to 
the Great Spirit. Since the Great Spirit knew that the Indians could 
not do without some kind of amusement therefore he orginated the 
idea of dancing, which he gave to the Indians for their benefit. More- 
over the Prophet was commanded that whenever he preached, to 


APPENDIX 261 


preach in the forenoon and if he choose to occupy till noon. (The 
propriety of this seems to consist in the idea, that the early part of 
the day belonged specially to the living, and the latter part of the 
day to the dead.) For the afternoon belongs to the dead. The 
earth commences to produce fruit directly at the surface. ‘‘Give 
me, therefore,’’ says the Great Spirit, ‘‘a thank-offering for the 
first fruits. (This I believe is a strawberry feast). Also give me a 
thank-offering at the green corn feast and at the time of harvesting 
or gathering of the corn, and again at the new-year’s feast.’’ All 
these feasts must be accompanied with their appropriate dances. 
Exercises to commence in the morning and to terminate at noon. 


Again, the Prophet was accustomed to observe to the Indians, 
that if they did not free themselves from the use of strong drinks, 
it would occasion the spilling of much blood among them. This, 
says the Preacher, has all happened. 


The Great Spirit made the Indians to live by the chase. But 
he foresaw the day when the Indians would be deprived of their 
hunting grounds; therefore He has said that it was not a criminal 
wrong to follow the example of the whites in some respects. He said 
that it was not wrong to build houses after the manner of the whites, 
to work your farms and to raise domestic animals. But an Indian 
could not live and be happy when he exceeded these bounds. 


Jimmy Johnson then addressed a few words to the women, say- 
ing, it is a great evil among women to talk ill concerning their neigh- 
bors. On this account the Great Spirit has- given the express com- 
mand that women shall not talk ill concerning their neighbors, for 
the Great Spirit has made all Indians equal and entitled to the same 
privileges and immunities. Be not a respector of persons, for the 
Great Spirit has given a variety of gifts, to some a pretty face, to 
others an ugly face, to some beautiful form, to others a deformed 
figure, etc. Be kindly disposed one toward another. Love one an- 
other with a brotherly love, for you are all members of the same 
family. If a stranger wanders about your abode, welcome him to 
your home and be hospitable toward him. Speak kind words to him 
and forget not always to mention the Great Spirit in the proceeds. 
In the morning give thanks to the Great Spirit for the return of day 
and the light of the sun, At night renew your thanks to Him, that 
His ruling power has preserved you from harm during the day, and 
also that night has again come in which you may rest your wearied 
body. All this, the Great Spirit is pleased with, because it is right. 


262 APPENDIX 


ELY S. PARKER’S SCHOOL DAYS 
(See Chapter VI, page 74.) 

An unexpected clipping reminiscent of Ely S. Parker’s school 
days comes from the Buffalo Express under date of March 24, 1915. 
It describes Ely as a ‘‘beau Brummel,’’ and the writer of the letter 
reflects the prejudice of the day against Indian blood. The letter 
follows: 


Editor Buffalo Express:—In the year 1845 I eompleted my last 
term of school at Yates Academy, N. Y., where Ely Parker was then 
a student. Eventually he became chief of the Six Nations. His 
was a noble, commanding form, tall, erect, broad-shouldered, and 
his straight, coal-black hair, high cheek-bones and copper-colored 
complexion plainly told his origin. His genial affability won the 
respect of both teachers and schoolmates. No young man in school 
could compete with him in oratory. 

When it was announced that Parker was to address the school 
the house was filled to its fall capacity and necks craned, eager to 
catch every word that came from his deep, full voice, which pene- 
trated to the farthest corner of the spacious schoolroom. He was 
truly a prodigy, springing from such a slow, indolent race. 

Although Parker possessed many traits that were commendable, 
he showed lack of discretion by falling in love with one of his fairest 
schoolmates, who, strange to say, seemed to reciprocate his feelings, 
allowing him to be her escort from lectures and evening meetings. 
This caused quite a stir, furnishing food for gossiping ones. In time 
it was rumored that Parker was to take the young lady in question 
for a drive on the Fourth of July. Some credited the story, while 
others thought she, belonging to one of the most aristocratic fam- 
ilies, would not disgrace herself and friends by riding out with an 
Indian. The Fourth of July came, when many were on the alert 
to know if the rumor was really true. 

Verandas were filled with people and even the street corners, 
when in a measure their curiosity was rewarded, as Parker went by 
with a grand livery and a negro driver. It was not long ere the 
splendid rig came rolling by and, sure enough, Mary was sitting at 
the side of Parker and the darky driver in front. The young lady 
soon went abroad for a long vacation. 

Parker now lies in a Buffalo cemetery. 

Mrs. Louise BACHELDOR. 


Rochester, March 24th, 1915. 


NICHOLSON HENRY PARKER 


When a student in Albany State Normal School, 1854. 


APPENDIX 263 


‘* THE AMBERICAN RED MAN’’1 
(See Chapter VI, page 77.) 


I am no orator as my forefathers were who now lie in their 
silent graves in yonder wilderness. But as you see I stand here a 
simple Indian, a son of the forest, a relic of the wreck of the Iroquois, 
a band of nations who once peopled the length and breadth of your 
Empire State: and if there be any present to whom the form and 
address of an Indian is displeasing, I speak not to them. But I 
speak to those, to whom real knowledge has taught that all men are 
made of one blood, created free and equal, entitled to the same rights 
and privileges, and accountable to the same God. I speak to those 
who can appreciate the merits of talent and intellectual worth, who 
are lovers of true knowledge, and who are lovers of eloquence. The 
topic to which I shall call your attention for a few moments is, ‘ ‘ The 
People Gone.’ ’ 


‘*The Niobe of nations, there she stands, 
Childless and crownless in her voiceless woe.’’ 


Why weep over their fate, those brave hearted hermits of the 
wilderness? Their destiny was accomplished, they uttered their 
voice, they filled up their portion of the great universe plan, their 
hour upon the clock of time was struck,— and they were not! Such 
is the law of fate, beneath whose stern mandate other nations have 
wrapt around themselves the solemn drapery of the sepulchre and 
bowed their glorious foreheads in the dust. Birthplaces of the mon- 
arch minstrel, the blind old man of Scio, and he who plucked the last 
laurel from the olden tree of song, what are ye? Mouldering mon- 
uments, erected by the Destroyer to show the foot-prints of the 
eternal world march,—the stern, unbending, necessary law! What 
speaks it? An august truth: it tells that without and within, is 
force, resistless force, moving spirit and matter; moves and starts 
onward. Under the power, man and world must be alike pushed off 
the stage of existence to make room for others. System rushes on 
system, generation on generation, and nation on nation, in everlast- 
ing battle; a fearful war, in which the defensive must ever surren- 
der; some expiring with a low melancholy wail, and others breathing 
their last in a loud, warrior shout. So died the ‘‘People Gone.’’ 
The forest fire shot up fiercely unto the end, and brave souls glanced 
defiance in the death struggle. 


1. An address delivered during the junior year of Nicholson H. Parker at 
Albany State Normal School. 


264 APPENDIX 


We have said, Why weep over their fate? Philosophical it may 
not be, yet humanity unseals the fountain, and the cold hearth-stone, 
the broken bow, and the leaf-covered grave are wet with the mour- 
ner’s tear. Were this people wronged? You do not feel disposed 
to investigate the subject. If wronged, then wrong is the very diy- 
inity of the inevitable laws which produced their ruin. Man’s feeble 
eye can not pierce the cloud; man’s circumscribed mind ean not roll 
away the mists which envelope the Empire of the Real. But when 
you dimiss this subject, another arises which you may think of much 
more importance, the doing of justice to the characters of those, 
whom the ‘‘law’’ forced you to destroy; the rescuing of their names 
from oblivion and the placing of them within their proper sphere 
in history. This is a noble duty which the world expects you to per- 
form, and which the inherent generosity of American character should 
urge you to accomplish. Will you be less manly,—aye, and less 
philosophical too,—than the conqueror of Gaul? He chronicled the 
deeds of every nation which he conquered, thus according justice 
to them, and indirectly was taught to consider as optional with him- 
self: besides, what prisons had he for their safe keeping? 


The Indian has been called cruel. What causes had he not to 
make him so? His brethren carried into captivity, his wife and 
children bound in the chains of slavery, his fields destroyed, his hunt- 
ing-grounds harried, his dwellings burnt, his wide and beautiful 
country wrested from his grasp, and he driven forth without home, 
without food, without shelter. These, these changed his nature 
and sometimes made the man a demon. That the red warrior often 
committed acts which humanity can not pardon, we confess: but 
yet can not the feeling heart find much in his extenuation? We 
hazard nothing in saying, that the whites have deeds to answer for 
far more bloody than the native of America. Witness Jena! attest 
it, St. Bartholomew! Speak out, thou Inquisition! And what of 
the guillotine? Where is there an Indian Atilla or an aboriginal 
Robespierre? History answereth not. Oh! it is very modest in you 
to speak of Indian cruelty! And more easy too, than effective. But 
we will leave this topic for one more pleasant—the intellectual 
character of the red man. 


His mind has always been underrated. The only faculty which 
you have allowed him to a high extent is that of oratory. But we 
fearlessly challenge the whole white race to afford more striking 
instances of judgment, caution, calculation and concentration, than 
ean be found in Powhattan, Pontiac, Tecumseh, Philip and, last 
though not least, Osceola. These were all generals, great generals: 


APPENDIX 265 


self-taught tacticians and military diplomats. If not, the white 
leaders acquired precious little glory in at last defeating them. 

Among Indian warriors Powhattan holds a high and deserved 
station. He made himself the sole and absolute monarch of his tribe 
by the mere force of native genius and iron-will. The whites called 
him ‘‘The Emperor.’’ 

There is not a character either in the staid lore of history, or 
the splendid pages of romance, more martial, dignified and brilliant, 
than the renowned Philip. Brave, merciful and talented, he is the 
very beau-ideal of the wise, the chivalrous and the good. The dip- 
lomatic talent which he displayed in all his negotiations is admitted 
by his enemies to have been of the first order. But if he was great 
in the council and powerful in the field, what words should be applied 
to him when he found himself deserted, the sceptre of his fathers 
fading away from his hands, and himself an outcast,—hunted like 
a wild beast, and not owning amid his whole dominions a spot where- 
on the weary, broken-hearted warrior might repose his weary head! 
And amid all this ruin, he scoffed at peace. The frame of the great 
soldier was sinking, but his spirit, like the noble tree of his native 
forest, still dared the lighting and laughed at the storm-cloud. An 
able writer has said: ‘‘ Philip was far from being a mere barbarian 
in his manners and feelings. There is not an instance of his having 
maltreated a captive in any way—even while the English were selling 
his own people as slaves abroad, or torturing and hanging them at 
home.’’ There is a moral grandeur in his death, the result of 
treachery, which even the proud Corsican could not boast. Elo- 
quently has it been said, ‘‘he fought and fell—miserably indeed, 
but gloriously, the avenger of his household, the worshiper of his 
own gods, the guardian of his own honor, a martyr for the soil which 
was his birthplace, and for the proud liberty which was his birth- 
right, ’’ , 

Philip of Pokanoket is among the immortal. The eloquence of 
Logan has been fully proved by Jefferson and Campbell. That of 
Decanesora is not so much known. Yet he was as vehement and 
imaginative. 

The Indians’ oratory is to be classed with the finest in the 
world—if sharp point, beautiful and grand imagery, and appropriate 
gesture are its main constitutents. Decanesora once said to a white 
governor, ‘‘You have almost eaten us up. Our best men are killed 
in this bloody war. But we forget what is past. Before this, we 
once threw the hatchet into the river, but you fished it wp, and treach- 
erously surprised our people at Cadaraqui. After that, you sent 
us to have our prisoners restored. Then the hatchet was thrown up 


266 APPENDIX 


to the sky, but you kept a string fastened to the helve and pulled it 
down and fell upon our people. Now we come to cover the blood 
from our sight, which has been shed by both parties during the war. 
We make the sun clean, and drive away all clouds and darkness, that 
we may see the light without interruption.’’ Decanesora once an- 
swered a charge of fraud by advising the accuser to give ‘‘less credit 
to the rum-carriers.’’ 


Condensity is the main characteristic of Indian oratory. In 
this respect Red Jacket, as an orator, was unequaled by any Indian 
of his tribe, his language was beautiful and figurative, as the Indian 
language always is;—and delivered with the greatest ease and fluency. 
His gesticulation was easy. graceful and natural. His voice was 
distinct and clear, and he always spoke with great animation. 


Red Jacket came upon the theatre of active life, when the power 
of his tribe had declined, and its extinction was theatened. The 
white man was advancing upon them with gigantic strides. The 
red warrior had appealed ineffectually, to arms; his cunning had 
failed and his strength overpowered: his foes, superior in prowess, 
were countless in number; and he had thrown down the tomahawk 
in despair. It was then that Red Jacket stood forward as a patriot, 
defending his nation with fearless eloquence and denouncing its 
enemies with fierce invective, or bitter sarcasm. He became their 
counsellor, their negotiator and their orator. Whatever may have 
been his conduct in the field, he now evinced a moral courage, as 
cool and sagacious as it was undaunted, and which showed a mind 
of too high an order to be influenced by the base sentiment of fear. 
The relations of the Senecas with the American people introduced 
questions of a new and highly interesting character, having refer- 
ence to the purchase of their lands, and the introduction of Chris- 
tianity and the arts. The Indians were asked not only to sell their 
country, but to embrace a new religion, to change their occupation 
and domestic habits, and to adopt a novel system of thought and ac- 
tion. Strange as these propositions must have seemed in themselves, 
they were rendered the more unpalatable when dictated by the strong- 
er party, and accompanied by occasional acts of oppression. It was 
at this crisis that Red Jacket stood forward, the intrepid defender of 
his country, its customs, and its religion, and the unwavering op- 
ponent of all innovations. He yielded nothing to persuasion or bri- 
bery, or to menace, and never, to his last hour, remitted his exertions 
in what he considered the noblest purpose of his life. 

An intelligent gentleman, who knew this chief intimately, in 
peace and war, for more than thirty years, speaks of him in the fol- 
lowing terms: ‘‘Red Jacket was a perfect Indian in every respect—in 
costume, in his contempt of the dress of the white men, in his hatred 


APPENDIX 267 


and opposition to the missionaries, and in his attachment to and 
veneration for the ancient customs and traditions of his tribe.”’ 
. His memory was very strong, for in a council which was held 
with the Senecas by Governor Tompkins’ of New York, a contest 
arose between that gentleman and Red Jacket, as to a fact connected 
with a treaty of many years’ standing. The American agent stated 
one thing, the Indian chief corrected him, and insisted that the reverse 
of his assertion was true, ‘‘But,’’ it was rejoined, ‘‘you have for- 
gotten—we have it written down on paper.’’ ‘‘The paper then tell 
a lie,’’ was the confident answer; ‘‘I have it written here,’’ con- 
tinued the chief, placing his hand with dignity upon his brow. ‘‘ You 
Yankees are born with a feather between your fingers; but your 
paper does not speak the truth. The Indian keeps his knowledge 
here; this is the book the Great Spirit gives us; it does not lie!’’ 
A reference was immediately made to the treaty in question, when 
to the astonishment of all present, and to the triumph of the red 
statesman, the document confirmed every word he had uttered. 
Previous to his death, time had made such ravages on his econ- 

stitution as to render him fully sensible of his approaching disso- 
lution. He visited successively all of his most intimate friends at 
their cabins and conversed with them upon the condition of the 
nation, in the most impressive and affecting manner. He told them 
that he was passing away, and his councils would soon be heard no 
more. He would run over the history of his people from the most 
remote period to which his knowledge extended, and point out, which 
only few could do, the wrongs, the privations and the loss of charac- 
ter, which almost of themselves constituted that history. ‘‘I am 
about to leave,’’ he said, ‘‘and when I am gone, and my warnings 
shall be no longer heard, or regarded, the craft and avarice of the 
white man will prevail. Many winters have I breasted the storm, 
but I am an aged tree, and can stand no longer. My leaves are 
fallen, my branches are withered, and I am shaken by every breeze. 
Soon my aged trunk will be prostrate, and the foot of the exulting 
foe of the Indian may be placed upon it in safety for I leave none 
who will be able to avenge such an indignity. Think not I mourn 
for myself. I go to join the spirits of my fathers, where age can 
not come: but my heart fails, when I think of my people, who are 
soon to be scattered and forgotten.’’ These several interviews were 
all concluded with detailed instructions respecting his domestic 
affairs and his funeral, 

He died on the 20th of January, 1830, at his residence near Buf- 
falo. With him fell the spirit of his people. They gazed upon his 
fallen form and mused upon his prophetic warnings, until their hearts 


268 APPENDIX 


grew weary with grief. Wisely has it been said, ‘‘Thus fell the 
last of the Senecas.’’ 

The genius of Pontiac—or Pondiac, as he is often called—would 
have shown of itself that the red man could. possess all the higher 
faculties of mind. The warrior saw his nation sinking before the 
English power like the blighted leaves of his own forests, beneath 
the desolating breath of the hurricane. His keen perception told 
him that a powerful disease demanded a powerful remedy. He knew 
that half-way measures would not answer; and like an able, cautious 
but heroic general, he looked around, examined his material, collected 
it, and at one fell swoop rolled the fires of death upon his foe. 

To imagine the combination of the Ottawas, the Chippewas, the 
Pottawatomies, the Miamis, the Sacs, and several other tribes of the 
West, with a large number of the Delawares and Six Nations, was 
a grand conception; but the exertions which he adopted to carry 
it into effect, place Pontiac with the greatest and best of the earth. 
The mutual animosity, fears and deep-rooted prejudices of these 
tribes had to be overcome, their patriotism aroused and their con- 
fidence in success fully answered, before a simultaneous attack, which 
was his object, could be made on the British posts of St Joseph, 
Green Bay, Michilimackinac, Detroit, Maumee, Sandusky, Niagara 
and Pittsburgh. Pontiac’s matchless skill in effecting his design is 
fully proved by a speech which he delivered before some of the tribes 
at the river Aux Heorses. The attack at last was ordered. The 
British lost nine forts and whole garrisons were completely massacred. 

Pontiae personally undertook the destruction of Detroit, but 
failed, owing, as many suppose, to treachery. 

Pontiac, like Peter of Russia, evinced a great desire to learn the 
modes of English manufacture and European tactics, and absolutely 
offered an individual a large portion of his land, if he would convey 
him to England for that purpose. He is known to have issued bills 
of credit, and what is better, to have redeemed them. 

But we can indulge in conjectures at once pleasing and philo- 
sophical. You hold up Cadmus the inventor of letters as a glorious 
ornament of your Caucasian race, and justly too; but has not the 
Indian his Cadmus?! What superiority have you over him? If his 
invention had been given a fair trial among redmen in time of peace 
and prosperity, who can say the epic and the lyric, the essay and the 
oration, the biography and the history which would have sent the 
name of the red man down to a future, whose heart should thrill 
beneath his memory, and whose tongue might hymn his praises? 


1. George Guess, a Cherokee. 


APPENDIX 269 


Again, these unsophisticated denizens of the unshorn forest pos- 
sessed in a high degree, that noble faculty which runs like lightning 
fire through the world, mind, warming vivifying and creating until 
the beautiful, august and godlike, start forth in entrancing loveliness 
and undying grandeur; the glory of man, and the cynosure of time. 

Ideality, the love of the beautiful and the grand, they produced 
the bard, he was God’s first speaker, and drew down the life-giving 
flame, from the primal electric to the man receiver. Why with all 
their sparkling, forcible, unique imagination, did the Indian progress 
no farther? This may perhaps be accounted for by continuous exertion 
and the absolute necessity of sharpening the physical faculties which 
his lot demanded. But after all, had he not literature, unwritten 
to be sure, but effective? There are many things of service beside 
books. Yes, he had a literature, the literature sung in unison with 
the breeze as it struck its harp of the wilderness, uttered in the grave 
council and thrown from the burning lips of eloquence. There is 
another literature also; that written in marble, the poems of arch- 
itecture. This literature is always the result of religion, whatever 
other phases it may assume. Temples we know were the first fabries. 
A literature such as this the Indian did not feel in need of. He was 
compelled to live mostly in the open air; his nature called but little 
for shelter; so he made the boundless forest his worshiping place, 
the steadfast sky was its dome, the winds its choir, and the eternal 
lights of the blue infinitude its lamps. A right brave temple that, 
a temple which God built, and where angels might adore; a temple 
too with free seats. 

If the superiority of the Indian mind is still doubted, I would 
point you to his conception of heaven with its One Divinity, the all 
gracious, all potent, all omniscient, eternal Great Spirit; a heaven 
of beauty, with its blue streams and singing birds, a heaven far 
superior to any other except the Christians’. Is there not intellect 
in the conception of this Indian heaven? Is there not beauty in 
the wide stretching hunting grounds with their graceful animals, 
emerald trees and erystal rivers, and over all the spirit of love throw- 
ing its soft splendor, like a beautiful banner woven of sunbeams? 
Peace! Peace everlasting! A few more years, a few more massacres, 
a few more sighs, and not a descendant of that people will stand 
upon the soil of his fathers. The very grave of the warrior will be 
nameless, his dust mingled almost without a memorial with the uni- 
verse atoms. The tides of life will rush over the silent realms of 
death, and the deep sea-like voice of other generations rise where a 
lost people have not even left an echo. And you the arrogant, what 
of you? Look to the ‘‘inevitable, necessary law, of destiny.’” In 


270 APPENDIX 


three thousand years may not two nations slumber, where but only one 
now lies in the icy pall of unconsciousness. 
GYE-WAH-GO-WA, 
NICHOLSON PARKER. 


‘“TRAITS OF INDIAN CHARACTER’ ’1 
(See Chapter VI, page 77.) 


There is something in the character and habits of the North 
American native, taken in connection with the scenery amid which 
he was accustomed to range,—its vast lakes, boundless forests, majes- 
tic rivers and trackless plains,—that to my mind is wonderfully 
striking and sublime. It is said that he is formed for the wilderness 
as the Arab is for the desert. True, it may be, inasmuch as we find 
that his nature is simple and enduring, fitted to grapple with diffi- 
eulties and to support privation. 

There seems but little soil in his heart for the growth of the 
kindly virtues, and yet if you would but take the trouble to penetrate 
that proud stoicism and habitual taciturnity which lock up his 
character from casual observation you would find him linked to his 
fellow man of civilized life by more of those sympathies and affec- 
tions than are usually ascribed to him. 

It has been the lot of the unfortunate aborigines of America 
to be doubly wronged by the white man. They have been dispossessed 
of their hereditary possessions by mercenary and frequently wanton 
warfare; and their character has been traduced by bigoted and inter- 
ested writers. The colonists often treated them like beasts of the 
forest; and here I shall endeavor to justify these outrages. The 
latter found it easier to exterminate than to civilize, the former 
to villify than to discriminate. The appellation savage and pagan 
were deemed sufficient to sanction the hostilities of both; and 
thus the poor wanderers of the forest were persecuted and defamed, 
not because they were guilty but because they were ignorant. The 
rights of the native have seldom been properly appreciated or 
respected by the white man. In peace he has been the dupe of artful 
traffic; in war he has been regarded as a ferocious animal, whose 
life or death was a question of mere precaution and convenience. 
Man is cruelly wasteful of life when his own safety is endangered 


1. An oration by Nicholson H. Parker, delivered at Canandaigua, March 7-8, 
1853, in a lecture course covering two evenings. Copied from the original 
manuscript. 


APPENDIX 271 


and he is sheltered by impunity; and no mercy is to be expected of 
him when he feels the sting of the reptile and is conscious of the 
power to destroy. The same prejudices which were indulged thus 
early, exist in common circulation at the present day. Certain 
learned societies, it is true, with laudable diligence, have endeavored 
to investigate and record the real character and manners of the Indian 
race; the American government, too, has wisely and humanely 
exerted itself to inculcate a friendly and forbearing spirit toward 
them, and to protect them from fraud and injustice. 

The current opinion of Indian character, however, is too apt to 
be formed from the miserable hoards that infest the frontiers and 
hang on the skirts of the settlements. These are too commonly 
composed of degenerate beings, corrupted and enfeebled by its 
** eivilization.’’ 

That proud independence that once formed the main pillar of 
native virtue has been shaken down and the whole moral fabric lies 
in ruins. Their spirits are humiliated and debased by a sense of 
inferiority, and thus courage is cowed and daunted by the superior 
knowledge and power of their enlightened neighbors. Society has 
advanced upon them like one of those withering airs that sometimes 
breathe desolation over a whole region of fertility. It has enervated 
their strength, and multiplied their diseases and superinduced upon 
their original barbarity the low vices of artificial life. It has given 
them a thousand superfiuous wants, whilst it has diminished the 
means of mere existence. It has often driven before it the animals 
of the chase, who fiy from the sound of the axe and the smoke of the 
settlement, to seek refuge in the depths of the remoter forests and 
yet untrodden wilds. Thus do you often find the Indians on your 
frontiers to be mere wrecks and remnants of once powerful tribes 
who have lingered in the vicinity of settlements and sink into pre- 
earious and vagabond existence. Poverty, repining and hopeless out- 
look, cankers of the mind unknown in savage life—corrode their 
spirits and blight every free and noble quality of their natures. 
They have become drunken, indolent, thievish, feeble and pusillani- 
mous. They loiter like vagrants about your settlements, among 
spacious dwellings replete with elaborate comforts. which only ren- 
der them sensible of the comparative wretchedness of their own 
eondition. Luxury spreads its ample board before their eyes; but 
they are excluded from the banquet. Plenty revels over the fields; 
the whole wilderness has blossomed into a garden, but they feel as 
reptiles that infest it. 

How different was their state, while yet the undisturbed lords 
of the soil! Their wants were few and the means of gratification 


272 APPENDIX 


within their reach. They saw everyone around them sharing the 
same lot, enduring the same hardships, feeding on the same aliments, 
arrayed in the same rude garments. No roof then rose but was then 
open to the homeless stranger; no smoke curled among the trees, but 
he was welcome to sit down by its fire and join the hunter in his 
repast. ‘‘For,’’ says an old historian of New England, ‘‘their life 
is so void of care, and they are so loving also, that they make use of 
those things they enjoy as common goods, and are therein so com- 
passionate, that rather than one should starve through want, they 
would starve all. Thus do they pass their time merrily, not regarding 
your pomp, but are better contented with their own, which some men 
esteem so meanly of.’’ Such were the Indians whilst in the pride 
and the energy of their primitive natures: they resemble those wild 
plants that thrive best in the shades of their native forests, but shrink 
from the hand of cultivation and perish beneath the influence of the 
sun. 

In discussing the savage character writers have been too prone 
to indulge in vulgar prejudice and passionate exaggeration instead 
of the candid temper of true philosopher. They have not sufficiently 
considered the peculiar circumstances in which the Indians have been 
placed, and the peculiar principles under which they have been 
educated. No being acts more rigidly from rule than the Indian. 
His whole conduct is regulated according to some general maxims 
early implanted in his mind. The moral laws that govern him, are, 
to be sure, but few; but then he conforms to them all. The white 
man abounds in laws of religion, morals and manners, but how many 
does he violate! A frequent ground of accusation against the Indians 
is their disregard of treaties, and the treachery and wantonness with 
which in times of peace they will suddenly fiy to hostilities. The 
intercourse of the white men with the Indians, however, is too apt 
to be cold, distrustful, oppressive and insulting. They seldom treat 
with that confidence and frankness which are indispensable to real 
friendship; nor is sufficient caution observed not to offend against 
those feelings of pride or superstition, which often prompt the Indian 
to hostility quicker than mere consideration of interest. The sol- 
itary savage feels silently but acutely. His sensibilities are not 
diffused over so wide a surface as those of the white man, but run 
in steadier and deeper channels. His pride, his affection, his sup- 
erstitions are all directed towards fewer objects; but the wounds 
inflicted on them are proportionately severe, and furnish motives of 
hostility which you cannot sufficiently appreciate. Where a com- 
munity is also limited in number and forms one great patriarchal 
family, as in an Indian tribe, the injury of an individual is the 


APPENDIX 273 


injury of the whole, and the sentiment of vengeance, is almost instan- 
taneously diffused. One council fire is sufficient for the discussion 
and the arrangement of a plan of hostilities. Here all the fighting 
men and sages ass@mble. Eloquence and superstition combine to 
influence the minds of the warriors. The orators awaken their 
martial powers and ardour, and they are wrought up to a kind of 
religious desperation by the visions of the prophet and dreamer. 

An instance of one of these sudden exasperations arising from 
a motive peculiar to the Indian character is extant in an old record 
of the early settlement of Massachusetts. The planters of Plymouth 
had defaced the monuments of the dead at Passonagessit and had 
plundered the grave of the sachem’s mother of some skins with which 
it had been decorated. The Indians are remarkable for the reverence 
which they entertain for the sepulchers of their kindred. Tribes 
that have passed generations exiled from the abodes of their ances- 
tors, when again by chance they have been traveling in the vicinity, 
have been known to turn aside from the highway, and, guided by 
wonderfully accurate tradition, have crossed the country for miles 
to some tumulus, buried perhaps in woods, where the bones of their 
tribesmen were anciently deposited, and there have passed hours in 
silent meditation. Influenced by this sublime and holy feeling, the 
sachem whose mother’s tomb had been violated, gathered his men 
together and addressed them in the following beautifully simple and 
pathetic harangue, a curious specimen of Indian eloquence, and an 
affecting instance of filial piety in a savage: 

‘<When last the glorious light of all the sky was underneath this 
globe, and birds grew silent, I began as my custom is to take repose. 
Before mine eyes were fast closed, methought I saw a vision at which 
my spirit was much troubled; and, trembling at the doleful sight, 
@ spirit cried aloud; ‘Behold, my son, whom I have cherished, see 
the breasts that gave thee suck, the hands that lapped thee warm and 
fed thee oft! Canst thou forget to take revenge on those wild people 
who have defaced my monument in a despiteful manner, disdaining 
our antiquities and honourable customs? See now, the sachem’s grave 
lies like the common people defaced by an ignoble race. Thy mother 
doth complain and implores aid against this thievish people who 
have newly intruded on our land. If this be suffered I shall not 
rest quiet in my everlasting habitation.’ This said the spirit, and 
I all in a sweat, not able scarce to speak, began to get some strength, 
and recollected my spirits that were fled and determined to demand 
your council and assistance.’’ 

I have adduced this anecdote at some length, as it tends to show 
how these sudden acts of hostility which have been attributed to 
caprice and perfidy, may often arise from deep and generous motives, 
which inattention to Indian character and customs prevents your 
properly appreciating. 


274 APPENDIX 


Another ground of violent outery against the Indians is their 
barbarity to the vanquished. This had its origin partly in policy 
and partly in superstition. The tribes, though sometimes nations, 
were never so formidable in numbers but that the loss of several 
warriors was sensibly felt. This was particularly the case when 
they had frequently been engaged in warfare; and many an instance 
occurs in Indian history where a tribe that had long been formidable 
to its neighbors, has been broken up and driven away by the capture 
and massacre of its principal fighting men. There was a strong 
temptation, therefore, to the victor to be merciless; not so much to 
gratify any cruel revenge, as to provide for security. The Indians 
had also a superstitious belief, frequent among barbarous nations 
and prevalent also among the ancients, that the manes of their friends 
who had fallen in battle were soothed by the blood of. captives. The 
prisoners, however, who are not thus sacrificed, are adopted into their 
families in place of the slain, and are treated with the confidence 
and the affection of relatives and friends; nay, so hospitable and 
tender is their entertainment that when the alternative is offered 
them, they will often prefer to remain with their adopted brethren, 
rather that return to their homes and the friends of their youth.2 

The cruelty of the Indians toward their prisoners has been 
heightened since the colonization of the whites. What was formerly 
compliance with policy and superstition has broadened into a grat- 
ification of vengeance. They cannot but be sensible that the white 
men are the usurpers of their ancient domains, the cause of their 
degradation and the gradual destroyers of their race. They go forth 
to battle smarting with injuries and indignities which they have 
individually suffered, and they are driven to madness and despair 
by the wide spreading desolation and overwhelming ruin of European 
warfare. The whites have too frequently sent them an example of 
violence, by burning their villages and laying waste to their slender 
means of subsistence; and yet they wonder that savages do not show 
moderation and magnanimity toward those who have left them noth- 
ing but mere existence and wretchedness. 

You stigmatize the Indians also as cowardly and treacherous, 
because they use stratagem in warfare in preference to open force; 


2. An Indian once captured, who consents to adoption by his victorious foe, 
considers himself, and is considered by his own tribe, as legally dead. Once 
adopted by his conquerors, he forswears his birth-tribe, considers himself divorced 
from his wife and family, and henceforth pledged loyalty to the tribe of his 
adoption, marrying and rearing another family. The captive who was tortured by 
his enemy considered it an honor and felt that he was not to be demeaned by 
being forced to forsake his own tribe and the principles for which it fought. Thus, 
his death song was one of defiance and of insult to his foes, while it extolled the 
virtues and prowess of his own people.—A.C.P. 


APPENDIX 275 


but in this they are justified by their rude code of honor. They are 
early taught that stratagem is praiseworthy; the bravest warrior 
thinks it no disgrace to lurk in silence and take every advantage of 
his foe, and he triumphs in the superior craft and sagacity by which 
he has been enabled to surprise and destroy an enemy. Indeed, man 
is naturally more prone to subtility than open valor, owing to his 
physical weakness in comparison with other animals. They are 
endowed with natural powers of defense; with horns, with tusks, with 
hoofs, with talons; but man has to depend upon his superior sagacity. 
In all his encounters with these his proper enemies, he resorts to 
stratagem and when he perversely turns his hostility against his 
fellow man, he at first continues his subtle mode of warfare. 

The natural principle of war is to do the most harm to our 
enemy with the least harm to ourselves, and this, of course, is to be 
effected by stratagem. That chivalrous courage that induces you to 
despise the suggestions of prudence and to rush into the face of 
certain danger, is the offspring of polite society, and produced by 
education. It is honorable because it is in fact the triumph of lofty 
sentiment over an instinctive repugnance to pain, and over the 
yearnings after personal ease and security, (which society has con- 
demned as ignoble). It is kept alive by pride and the fear of shame; 
and thus the dread of real evil is overcome by imagination. It has 
been cherished and stimulated also by various means. It has been 
the theme of spirit stirring song and chivalrous story. The poet 
and the minstrel have delighted to shed around it the splendors of 
fiction, and even the historian has forgotten the sober gravity of 
narration and broken forth into enthusiastic rhapsody in its praise. 
Triumphs and gorgeous pageants have been its reward; monuments, 
on which art has exhausted its skill, and opulence its treasures, have 
been erected to perpetuate a nation’s gratitude and admiration. 
Thus artificially excited courage has arisen to an extraordinary and 
fictitious degree of heroism; and, arrayed in all the glorious ‘‘pomp 
and circumstance of war,’’ this turbulent quality has even been able 
to eclipse many of those quiet virtues which silently ennoble the 
human character, and swell the tide of human happiness. 

But if courage intrinsically consists in the defiance of danger 
and pain, the life of the Indian is a continual exhibition of it. He 
lives in a state of perpetual hostility and risk. Peril and adventure 
are congenial to his nature; or rather seem necessary to arouse his 
faculties and to give an interest to his existence. Surrounded by 
hostile tribes, whose mode of warfare is by ambush and surprisal, he 
is always prepared for fight and lives with his weapons in his hands. 
As the ship careens in fearful singleness through the solitudes of 


276 APPENDIX 


the ocean; as the bird mingles among clouds and storms, and wings 
its way, a mere speck across the pathless air; so the Indian holds his 
course, silent, solitary, but undaunted through the boundless bosom 
of the wilderness. 

His expeditions may vie in distance and danger with the pil- 
grimage of the devotee or the crusade of the knight errant. He 
traverses vast forests, exposed to the hazards of lonely sickness, of 
lurking enemies, and passing famine. Stormy lakes, those great 
inland seas, are no obstacles to his wanderings; in his light canoe of 
bark, he sports like a feather on their waves, and darts with the swift- 
ness of an arrow down the roaring rapids of the rivers, His very sub- 
sistence is snatched from the midst of toil and peril. He gains his 
food by the hardships and dangers of the chase; he wraps himself 
in the spoils of the bear, the panther, and the buffalo; and he sleeps 
among the thunders of the cataract. No hero of ancient or modern 
days surpasses the Indian in his lofty contempt of death, and the 
fortitude with which he sustains its eruelest affliction. Indeed you 
here behold him rising superior to the white man in consequence of 
his peculiar education. The latter rushes to glorious death at the 
cannon’s mouth; the former calmly contemplates its approach and 
triumphantly endures it amidst the varied torments or surrounding 
foes and the protracted agonies of fire. He even takes pride in taunt- 
ing his persecutors and in provoking their ingenuity of torture; and 
as the devouring flames prey on his very vitals and the flesh shrinks 
from the sinews, he raises his last song of triumph, breathing the 
defiance of an unconquered heart, and in invoking the spirits of his 
fathers to witness that he dies without a groan. 

Notwithstanding the obloquy with which the early historians 
have overshadowed the characters of the unfortunate natives, some 
bright gleams occasionally break through to a degree of melancholy 
luster on their memories. Facts are occasionally to be met with in 
the rude annals of the eastern provinces, which though recorded with 
the coloring of prejudice and bigotry, yet speak for themselves, and 
will be dwelt upon with applause and sympathy when prejudice shall 
have passed away. 

In one of the homely narratives of the Indian wars in New 
England there is a touching account of the desolation carried into 
the tribe of the Pequot Indians. Humanity shrinks at the cold- 
blooded detail of indiscriminate butchery. In one place we read of 
the surprise of an Indian fort at night, when the wigwams were 
wrapped in flames and the miserable inhabitants shot down and 
slain in attempting to escape-—‘‘all being despatched and ended in 
the course of an hour.’’ After a series of similar transactions— 


APPENDIX 277 


A> 


Cee. 


Se ok wien 2am Gi = wt =< 


HISTORICAL 


LECTURES, | 


GA=]-WAH-GO-WA. 


This talented young Indian, a descendent of the Iroquois, will... % 
give two select Lectures, on the 


UINTORY OF IS RACE, 


= Their Manners, Customs, - National Festivi- 
2 ties, Costumes, Literature, and Religion, to 
“Sg the citizens of CANANDAIGUA, in the 


SEMINARY HALL, 
MONDAY AND TURSDAY EVENINGS, 


The 7th and 8th of March, 1853. 


GA--WAIL-GO-W.A, isa brother of DO-NTTT-TLO-GA-WAT, 
or Fly S. Parker, of Rochester, N. ¥., who is Head Chief of the 
Six Nations, and reeently acknowledged as such by Gov, Seve: 
rou is a distinguished Civil Engineer in tho Goverment su @ 
Giaeiewahsnewo, (Nicholas LL Parker) is a fine specimen of the a+ 
ble Aborigines of thiscouutry. He possesses testimonials of a thor- 
ough education, aud native powers of eloquence, and will not fail 
te interest an) intelligent audience, that may listen to his delige- 
ation of Indian [istory, Character and Traditions. 

Phe Levtares will be delivered in tull Indias costume. 


Lectures to commence at 7 1-2 o clock. 
Admission 12 1-2 Cents. 


> Prated at the Ontario Messenger Office, Canundaigua. 


POSTER OF LECTURE BY NICHOLSON H. PARKER, 1853 


278 APPENDIX 


‘our soldiers,’’ as the historian pibusly observes, ‘‘being resolved 
by God’s assistance to make a final destruction of them’’—the 
unhappy savages were hunted from their homes and fortresses and 
pursued with fire and sword, a scanty but gallant band, the sad 
remnants of the Pequot warriors took refuge in a swamp. Burning 
with indignation and rendered sullen by despair, with hearts burst- 
ing with grief at the destruction of their tribe, and spirits galled 
and sore at the fancied ignominy of their defeat, they refused to 
ask their lives at the hands of an insulting foe, and preferred death 
to submission. As the night drew on they were surrounded in their 
dismal retreat so as to render escape impracticable. Thus situated, 
their enemy ‘‘plied them with shot all the time, by which means 
many were killed and buried in the mire.’’ In the darkness and 
fog that preceded the dawn of day, some few broke through the 
besiegers and escaped into the woods. ‘‘The rest were left to the 
conquerors, of which many were killed in the swamp like sullen dogs 
who would rather in their self willedness and madness, sit still and 
be shot to pieces than implore mercy.’’ When the day broke upon 
this handful of forlorn but dauntless spirits, the soldiers, we are 
told, entering the swamp, ‘‘saw several heaps of them sitting close 
together upon whom they discharged their pieces, laden with ten or 
twelve pistol bullets at a time, putting their muzzles of their pieces 
under the boughs within a few yards of them; so as beside these 
that were found dead, many more were killed and sunk in the mire, 
and never were mindful more of friend or foe.’’ 

Can anyone read this unvarnished tale without admiring the 
stern resolution, the unbending pride, the loftiness of spirit that 
seemed to nerve the hearts of these self-taught heroes and raise them 
above the instinctive feelings of human nature? When the Gauls 
laid waste the city of Rome they found the Senators clothed in their 
robes and seated with stern tranquility in their curule chairs; in this 
manner they suffered death without resistance or even supplication. 
Such conduct was in them applauded as noble and magnanimous; in 
the hapless Indians it was reviled as obstinate and sullen. How 
truly are you the dupes of show and circumstance! How different is 
virtue clothed in purple and enthroned in state, from virtue naked 
and destitute, and perishing in obscurity in a wilderness! 

But I forbear to dwell on these gloomy pictures. The eastern 
tribes have long since disappeared; the forest that sheltered them 
has been laid low and scarce any traces of them remain in the thickly 
settled states of New England, excepting here and there the Indian 
name of a village or stream. And such, sooner or later, must be the 
fate of these other tribes who have occasionally been inveigled from 


} 


APPENDIX 279 


their forests to mingle in the wars of white men. A little while, and 
they will go the way that their brethren have gone before. The few 
hordes that still linger about the shores of Huron and Superior and 
the tributary waters of the Mississippi will share the fate of those 
tribes that spread over Massachusetts and Connecticut and bordered 
along the proud banks of the Hudson; of that gigantic race said to 
have existed on the borders of the Susquehanna; of those various 
nations that flourished about the Potomac and Rappahannock and 
that peopled the forests of the vast valley of Shenandoah. They 
will vanish like the vapor from the face of the earth; their very 
history will be lost in forgetfulness, and ‘‘places that now know 
them will know them no more forever!’’ Or, if perchance some 
dubious memorial of them should survive, it may be in the romantic 
dreams of the poet, to people in imagination his glades and groves, 
like the fauns and satyrs and sylvan deities of antiquity. But should 
he venture upon the dark story of their wrongs and wretchedness, 
should he tell how they were invaded, corrupted, despoiled, driven 
from their abodes and sepulchers of their fathers, hunted like wild 
. beasts about the earth and sent down with violence and butchery to 
the grave, posterity will either turn with horror and ineredulity from 
the tale or blush with indignation at the inhumanity of their fore- 
fathers. 


‘©We are driven back,’’ said an old warrior, ‘‘until we can 
retreat no further; our hatchets are broken, our bows are snapped, 
our fires are extinguished. A little longer and the white man will 
cease to persecute us, for we shall cease to exist!’’ 


‘“INDIAN DANCES AND THEIR INFLUENCE ’’1 
(See Chapter VI, page 77.) 


With the red race at large dancing is regarded as a thanks- 
giving ceremonial acceptable in itself to the Great Spirit, Ha-wen- 
mi-yuh, and they are also taught to regard it as a divine art, designed 
for their pleasure and His worship. 


It is cherished as one of the most suitable modes of social inter- 
course between the sexes, but more especially as the instrumentality 
for arousing patriotic excitement and keeping alive the spirit of the 
nation. Popular enthusiasm breaks forth in this form and these 
dances arise as a spontaneous product of the Indian mind. 


1. A portion of a lecture by Nicholson H. Parker. 


280 APPENDIX 


With their wild music of songs and rattles, their diversities of 
step and attitude, their grace of motion and their spirit-stirring 
associations, they contain within themselves both a picture and a 
realization of savage life. 

The first impressive emotions of which the Indian youth is con- 
scious is kindled by the dance, the first impulses of patriotism, the 
earliest dreams of ambition, are aroused by their inspiring influ- 
ences. In their patriotic religious and social dances, into which they 
are properly divided, resides the soul of Indian life. The dance 
serves as a mighty. bond by which they are united, it stimulates to 
deeds of daring and feeds the patriotic flame. It exercises an 
overpowering influence in arousing Indian spirit and in forming the 
Indian character, and hence is of vast importance to them, The 
great tenacity with which the Indians hold on to their dances fur- 
nishes conclusive evidence of the mighty hold they have upon the 
affections of the people. When these attractions and peculiarities 
are neutralized they will virtually cease to be Indians. 

A mourning council of Genesee was held in 1846 to raise up 
sachems. There were about 600 Iroquois present representing all of 
the Six Nations. On the second day the Great Feather Dance was 
performed by a select band of Onondaga and Seneca dancers. A 
white gentleman (Lewis H. Morgan) who was present and witnessed 
it remarked. that he then for the first time realized the magical 
influence which these dances have upon the Indians. ‘‘It was impos- 
sible even for the spectators,’’ he says, ‘‘to resist the general 
enthusiasm. ’’ 

It was remarked to Abraham La Fort, an educated Onondaga 
sachem, that they would be Indians forever if they held to these 
dances. He replied that he knew it and that for that reason he would 
be the last to give them up. 

The War Dance and the Great Feather Dance are the two great 
performances of the Iroquois. One has a patriotic and the other 
a religious character, yet at the same time both are costume dances. 
They are performed by a select band of from fifteen to thirty who 
are distinguished for their power of endurance and of activity. Of 
the two the War Dance stands prominent. It is the dance for enlist- 
ment on perilous expeditions, as it is the dance that precedes the 
departure of the war party and with which their return is celebrated; 
of adopting captives and for the entertainment of guests, and hence 
is the first to be taught the young. 

In the War Dance the attitudes are those of the violent passions 
and hence are not very graceful. In this dance may be seen at the 
same time or instant one in the attitude of attack, another of the 


APPENDIX 281 


defense ; one drawing the bow, another striking with the war <lub; 
others listening and others striking the foe. Notwithstanding that 
the dance elicits the manifestation of the passions, with uncouth 
attitudes and contortions of countenance, still the wild music, the 
supple activity, the rattles of the dance, make a scene of no ordinary 
interest. 

In the ceremony they group themselves within a circular area, 
standing strictly together. The singers commence their songs, beat- 
ing time upon their drums, and the dancers make the floors resound 
with agile foot. Each war song lasts about two minutes, followed 
with an interval of about the same length. These war songs are 
verses or measured sentences. The war whoop always precedes each 
song. It is given by the leader and answered by the band. A de- 
seription of this thrilling outbreak of human voices is out of the 
power of language to express. 

In this danee any one is at liberty to make a speech at any 
stage of the dance. His desire is manifested by a rap, at the sound 
of which the dance ceases and all is silent until the message is deliv- 
ered. Then comes the war whoop, the response by the band, followed 
again by the music and the dance. : 

All who make speeches on these occasions are expected to make 
a present to the dancers at the close of their speech. In this way 
they give variety and great amusement. The speeches are generally 
short, being only a few words or sentences at most. They may be 
@ patriotic ebulition of feeling, or. witticism, or an exhortation. Some 
are welcomed with jeers, some with rounds of applause and some with 
solemnity. 

As an illustration of this part of the amusement I will give one, 
two or more specimens as they occurred at a war dance within my 
memory. 

At the close of a time, a rap was made by Hah-sgwih-sa-ooh, a 
jolly chief who was very fond of fire water. He spoke as follows: 

**¥Friends and relatives: I am much pleased with the dance and 
hope that it will continue to be well sustained. I return my thanks to 
the war dancers for the spirit with which they perform their duty. I 
wish them all prosperity and long life. If any one should look at 
me they will find that I keep my eyes fixed upon the dancers; and, 
furthermore that I have a good eye, so much so that one would think 
I wore glasses. I take from my pocket a shilling for the dancers.’’ 

He gave them the money. The war whoop, the music and the 
dance were resumed. At its end Sha-do-wa-noh rapped and made 
a reply to the other as follows: 


282 APPENDIX 


‘‘Friends and relatives: We have just heard some one on the 
other side of the house announce that he has an eye so bright that 
one would think he wore spectacles. But as he has a pair of red 
eyes, we must I suppose, conclude that he means red spectacles.’’ 

He then gave tobacco to the dancers. The hit upon the infirm- 
ity of the first speaker was received with rounds of applause, after 
which the dance went on as usual. 

Among the dancers was a warrior of herculean proportions,, so 
much so that he might with propriety be called a giant. He fur- 
nished the theme for the next speech which was by Hah-sa-no-a-deh, 
as follows: 

‘‘Friends and relatives: I admire the ease and grace with which 
Sha-go-a-o-gwus, manages his wonderful proportions. He has every 
reason to be proud of his size and dignity. I propose to give him 
a present of two plugs of tobacco, supposing that it will be sufficient 
for one quid.’’ 

After the merriment had subsided and the next dance was over, 
the giant replied: 

‘*Friends and relatives: I return my thanks to Hah-sa-no-a-deh, 
for his present. I assure him that my intellectual capacity corre- 
sponds very justly with my physical dimensions. I hope that my 
brother will publish my fame from the rising to the setting sun.’’ 

Thus they proceeded with speeches and replies, till finally a 
speech of more serious cast was made by Da-geh-sa-deh, a distin- 
guished chief, in which he said: 

‘‘Friends and relatives: We have reason to glory in the achieve- 
ments of our ancestors. I behold with sadness the present declining 
state of our noble race. Once, warlike yell-and painted hand were 
the terror of the white man. Then our fathers were strong and their 
power was felt and acknowledged far and wide over the American 
continent. But we have been reduced and broken by the cunning and 
rapacity of the white race. We are now compelled to crave as 2 
blessing that we may be allowed to live upon our own lands, to 
cultivate our own fields, to drink from our own spring and to mingle 
our bones with those of our fathers. Many winters ago our wise 
ancestors predicted that a great monster with white eyes would come 
from the east and as he advanced would consume the land. This 
monster is the white race and the prediction is near its fulfilment. 
They (our ancestors) advised their children when they became weak 
to plant a tree with four roots, branching to North, the South, the 
East and the West; and then collecting under its shade to dwell 
together in unity and harmony. This tree I propose shall be at this 


APPENDIX 283 


very spot. Here we will gather, here we will live and here we will 
die.’? 

These specimens will give some idea of the manner of conducting 
&@ war dance and its variety of entertainments, 

Next in public estimation is the Great Feather Dance. It is a 
religious dance being consecrated to the worship of the Great Spirit. 
It is performed by a select band of from fifteen to thirty or more in 
full costume, and is used chiefly at religious festivals and on the most 
important oceasions of Indian life. It is the most graceful, splendid 
and impressive of all the dances, requiring more flexibility of person, 
more gracefulness of action and greater power of endurance than 
any other dance. Herein is a kind of climax of the dancing art, at 
least in Indian life, and it may be seriously questioned if a figure 
ean be found even in civilized life which will fully compare with 
this in those particulars which make up a graceful and spirited dance. 

The music is furnished by two singers seated in the center of 
the room, each using a rattle. It consists of songs, or measured 
verses of about two minutes in length; these are religious songs in 
which they praise Ha-wen-e-yuh or the Great Spirit for His many 
blessings in nature or supplicate His continued mercy. 

The rattles are made of turtle shell and are used to beat time 
to the songs as an accompaniment. 

In some respects this dance is like the first, viz., the singing 
ceases at short intervals, the dance is suspended and the performers 
walk around the common center to the beat of the rattles at half time. 
Soon another song commences, the rattles quicken the time and the 
dance is renewed. 

Sometimes in the middle of the song there is a change in the 
beat of time and the music, accompanied by a slight cessation of the 
dance, after which it becomes more animated than before. Thus it 
goes on with its variety of undulations. 

The leader, standing at the head of the column, opens the dance, 
followed by those behind. Now they advance slowly around the 
room and as they dance, gesture with their arms and place their 
bodies in a great variety of positions. They do not seek to portray 
the violent passions, but only the gentle and graceful. 

Each foot in succession is raised from two to six inches from 
the floor and the heel brought down with great force as often as the 
rattles beat. Sometimes one foot is brought down two or three times 
before alternating with the others. When it is remembered that the 
rattles beat two or three times a second and the feet must keep time 
with that, you get a little idea of the surprising activity of the dance. 
The stamping of the foot upom the floor answers the double purpose 


284 APPENDIX 


of shaking the kmee rattles on the costume and of adding to the noise 
and animation of the dance. 

The dancers are generally naked to the waist except the orna- 
ments upon the neck and arms, by which means they not only add 
to the picturesqueness of the performers but are better fitted for 
their hereulean exertions which are so severe that the vapor of sweat 
makes a literal smoke from their backs before they are through. In 
this way they seek to test each other’s powers of endurance, and it 
is not uncommon for some to yield to their utter exhaustion and 
retire from their dance before it is finished. When one distinguishes 
himself for a spirited and graceful performance he is called out by 
the spectators and placed at the head of the band. Im this way 
several changes frequently oceur during the dance. 

The women join in this dance if they choose but they enter by 
themselves at the foot of the column and in their ordinary dress. 
Their step is entirely unlike that of the male. They move sidewise, 
simply raising themselves alternately upon each foot from heel to 
toe and then bringing down the heel upon the floor at each beat of 
the rattle, keeping pace with the slowly advancing column. The 
females in the dance are both quiet and graceful. 

The war dance is usually performed in the evening and is only 
employed on important occasions or at domestic councils of unusual 
interest. Fifteen make a full company but frequently twenty-five 
or thirty engage in this dance. 

After the cares of the day are laid aside and as the shades of 
night set in, preparations begin for the dance. The people are 
attracted to the council house in great numbers to witness this popular 
entertainment. They quietly wait for the coming of the dancers 
who make their arrangements in another house, appointing their 
leaders and singers, arraying themselves in their costumes, painting 
and decorating, superintended by the Keeper of the Faith. 

Keepers of the Faith are what you might call managers at a 
ball, only with them it is an hereditary office, supposed by them to 
have been appointed by the Great Spirit, to attend and see that all 
regulations of His Divine will are executed. Hence it is the duty 
of the Keeper of the Faith, when a dance of any character is on foot, 
but more especially when it is of a religious character, to see that 
all regulations are strictly observed. 

The war whoop now and then breaks in the stillness of the night, 
informing the waiting multitude that they are forthcoming. 

During this preparation a Keeper of the Faith engages the 
attention of the people by addressing them on the nature, object and 
importance of this dance. 


APPENDIX 285 


Now nearer the war whoop rings through the air, announcing the 
approach of the dancers. Headed by their leader and marching in 
single file to the beat of the drum they approach the council house. 
As they come up the crowd gives way, the leader crosses the 
threshold followed by his decorated band and immediately the dance 
is opened. They group themselves within a circular area, standing 
thick together. The singers commence the war song, beating time 
upon their drums, and the dancers make the floor resound with agile 
foot. 


It is quite impossible to give a perfect description of the step 
and attitude of these dancers. With the whites I observe the dancing 
is entirely on the tip-toe of the foot, with rapid change of position 
and but slight changes of attitude. But with the Iroquois it is 
very different. With them it is chiefly upon the heel with slow 
changes of positions and rapid changes of attitude. The heel is 
raised and brought down with great quickness and force in order 
to keep time to the beat of the drum, to make noise and to shake 
the knee rattles, all of which add pomp and circumstance to the 
occasion. 

The shuffle dance is executed in a peculiar manner by alternately 
moving one foot slightly forward of the other, but neither at any 
time leaving the ground or floor. The advance movement is quite 
rapid, and the elderly women make very graceful movement with 
their hands, arms and heads, keeping the body stiff and erect. 


The dance for the dead is executed by the women alone, with 
the exception of the men songsters whom the women have selected. 
For some reason this dance at one time was required to be commenced 
in the middle of the afternoon, terminating at twilight, Subse- 
quently it commenced at dusk and ended at midnight. Later yet it 
commenced at any time after dark and continued until the dawn of 
the next morning. The two men songsters commenced the song, the 
women all joining in the chorus, accompanying the same with a slow- 
snake-like forward motion of the feet, the body erect and quite rigid. 
The feast is a duty and not to be partaken by women in certain 
peculiar conditions. These feasts, owing to their mournful character, 
were not often held but they were regarded as essential to the peace 
and quiet of the departed spirits. The feast, like all others, was 
composed of hominy or cracked corn, boiled with meat, hulled or 
whole Seneca corn, boiled with meat, and Seneca corn bread, plain 
or mixed with dried berries. 


The Death Dance can only be called by the female Keepers of 
the Faith, approved by the male members of the order. 


286 APPENDIX 


The dances are nearly always accompanied and closed by a 
feast and can be given by any one either by day or night. They 
are often credited to unweaned infants, though the dance is selected 
and the feast provided by the mother. Sick persons are frequently 
the promoters of the dances and feasts, and will join in some one 
dance if able to walk, and if not are led around by some kind friend. 

The dances and feasts are held solely and purely for social 
purposes and innocent pleasure, and are always enjoyed alike by the 
young and old of both sexes. 

There are a few special dances which are not common property 
and therefore cannot be ordered by individuals; such for instance 
as the Grand Feather Dance. 


A LETTER FROM BLY S. PARKER TO HIS PEOPLE 
EXPLAINING THE NEW LAW DRAFTED FOR 
THEIR BENEFIT AND PROTECTION. 


(See Chapter X) 


March 4, 1861. 
Desk FATHER: 

I send you my communication to the Indians at Tonawanda con- 
cerning our doings at Albany. I have had no time to copy it or to 
put it into better shape, but I think it embodies everything I want 
to say to the Indians. 

The letter must be carefully studied either by Newton or 
Caroline before it is read to the Council. The matter requires much 
thought and consideration. In my humble opinion it is a very good 
thing for the Indians and I hope that they will conclude to enjoy 
its benefits. 

Upon my return I find that my work has accumulated and 
requires my immediate attention, hence the delay in writing to you. 

Spring is beginning to open upon us and my work will soon 
begin to increase materially. In a few days I am going down the 
tiver about 300 miles and shall be absent about two weeks. My 
health is very good and I trust you and the family are well. 


From your son, 


Ey 8. PARKER. 
Wm. PARKER, EsqQ., 
Indian Chief, 
Tonawanda Ind. Res. 
New York. 


APPENDIX 287 


DusuqueE, Mch. 2nd, 1861. 


To the CHIEFS AND PEOPLE OF THE TONAWANDA BAND 
or SENECA INDIANS:— 


I send you greeting, and invoke the Great Spirit that it may be 
His will that this, my communication, may reach you and find you 
all enjoying health and prosperity. As for myself, the Great Spirit 
has looked kindly upon me, and I am in good health. 


Some time since you delegated me to go to Albany, N. Y., and 
conjointly with Mr, Martindale, to go before the Legislature and ask 
for the enactment of such laws as in our opinion we might conceive 
to be for the benefit and welfare of our Band at Tonawanda. I 
am now about to report to you what we did. 


And first let me say, that I regretted very much my inability 
to visit you, and looking upon you all to have made my report ver- 
bally. But I was under orders from Washington to return here by 
a certain day, which compelled me to pass you by. 


I will now, in as few words as possible, relate to you what we 
did. When I left here I had no definite idea of the particular 
things our friend Mr. Martindale had upon his mind and in which 
he desired my assistance in your behalf. When I reached Rochester 
he gave me an insight into his views. He was engaged in Court 
and could not at once proceed to Albany. I went on myself to 
Albany with a view of ascertaining the Legislative feeling respecting 
the Indians. I found a very friendly feeling and so wrote to Mr. 
Martindale. He came to Albany, reaching that place on the morning 
of the 20th February. He brought with him a bill partially prepared 
embodying all the legislation which was deemed necessary for the 
protection and improvement of the Tonawanda Band of Senecas. We 
examined this together, and after agreeing upon every point, he 
went the same day (20th) to New York, leaving me to put every- 
thing in shape to present for the action of the Legislature. 


I will now tell you what it was, and after I have gone through 
with what we have asked the Lawmakers at Albany to do for us, I 
will then give the main reasons that influenced us in this matter. 


We have asked to become a Law providing for the election by 
the Tonawanda Band of Senecas of three Peacemakers, one Treas- 
urer, one clerk and one marshal (constable). All male Indians, 


288 APPENDIX 


members of said band over the age of 20 years to be entitled to 
vote. The Peacemakers are to be selected from among the chiefs, 
and they have duties enjoined upon them similar to the civil duties 
enjoined upon justices of the peace by white people. They are to 
hear and determine upon all difficulties between Indians arising 
from trespass, violations of contracts or agreements and other wrongs 
committed, where the damages claimed do not exceed one hundred 
dollars. Where the amount in controversy exceeds one hundred 
dollars, one Indian may sue another in the courts of the State in the 
same manner and with like effect as controversies between white men. 
These Peacemakers have jurisdiction only in difficulties between 
Indians. If any Indian refuses to pay any judgment determined 
against by the Peacemakers in favor of another Indian, he may be 
sued upon the judgment before any justice of the peace in the county 
and the judgment collected in the same manner as from a white man. 
The Peacemakers will receive a salary not exceeding fifty dollars a 
year, payable semi-annually. 

The clerk will keep records of all elections, and the proceedings 
of all councils held by the Chiefs and Peacemakers. He will receive 
a salary not exceeding fifty dollars a year. 

The Treasurer will keep all moneys belonging to the Band, 
paying them out only by order of a council of chiefs. He is required 
to give security for the faithful performance of his duties, and will 
receive such compensation as the chiefs may determine. 

We have asked that the share of the Tonawanda Band of Senecas 
of the State annuity be hereafter paid directly to the Treasurer of 
said Band of Indians. 

In the law we prohibit white men from buying timber, wood, 
ties, staves, shingles, bark or plaster from any Indian or Indians, 
if taken from lands unoccupied by any individual Indian, and recog- 
nized as the common property of the Band. 

The law provides that any Indian of said Band may select a 
piece of land not fenced in and not occupied by any other Indian 
after describing it and obtaining the consent of the Chiefs in council 
assembled. The chiefs are required to base their consent to such 
appropriation of land by any Indian upon just and equitable ground, 
having always in view the interests of such as may come after us 
(that is, posterity). The decision and description must be entered 
by the clerk in a book kept for that purpose. 

We prohibited all white persons from leasing ium of any 
Indian, or working Indian lands upon shares. 

An Indian having a piece of ground allotted to him, in clearing 
it up for cultivation may sell any wood, timber, ties, staves, shingles, 


APPENDIX 289 


bark or plaster that he may find on his ground, but he shall not have 
this privilege upon any land recognized as the joint or common 
property of the Band. (Laying out and making roads.) 

Such, my people, are the general provisions of the law, which 
our friend and counsellor Mr. Martindale and myself have asked 
the Legislature at Albany to enact for us. 

And now, listen further, and I will give you a few general rea- 
sons that have influenced us in taking this course: 

First then, I want you all to bear in mind, that we struggled 
for over 20 years, against the determined policy of land speculators 
to drive us from our Tonawanda homes. There were times in the 
history of the struggle when we seemed to be enveloped in utter 
darkness, and our wise men were lost in doubt what to do. We had 
no friends to advise us, and our own people, and our relations by 
blood, turned against us. Amid all this perplexity and when it 
appeared morally certain that we must be driven out of our Tona- 
wanda homes and despoiled and robbed of our lands, we found 
friends in Verplanck and Martindale. By their ingenuity they inter- 
posed legal obstacles, preventing the immediate execution of the 
treaties which hung over our heads. Mr. Martindale was an honest 
man, and he proved a true friend to us. He made our interests his 
own, and prosecuted our views of our rights, until at length it 
resulted in securing to us permanent homes at Tonawanda. We no 
longer have a pre-emption right laying upon our lands. The lands 
we have now we own from the surface to the center and from the 
surface as high as the heavens. Our old men used to say, that our 
right to our lands lay only upon the surface, but now we can say 
that we own it to the center. Having acquired such a strong hold 
upon our ground, it was then considered, in what other matters did 
your interests require protection and in what manner could your 
improvement be permanently secured or advanced. 

Mr. Martindale is a wise man. He has a great love for the 
Tonawandas. He respects their chiefs and all the people. But 
during the time he has labored for them he has seen that although 
a chief is held in esteem by his people, he is not obeyed by them. He 
has seen and understood that although a chief in olden times might 
have had great power with his people, association with, and the 
adoption to a slight extent by the Indians of the habits of the pale 
faces, have enlarged the ideas of the people, their eyes have been 
partially opened so that they can see somewhat for themselves, and 
that the chieftains’ influence and usefulness have been materially 
circumscribed. He has seen a community at Tonawanda pretending 
to have a government and yet has no power to enforce or execute its 


290 APPENDIX 


will. This was a fault, in the government of any community, that 
needed to be remedied. The law does this. The chiefs are not cur- 
tailed in the exercise of any of their ancient rights or usages, but 
three men are selected from their number, who should be wise and 
discreet men, to be styled Peacemakers, by whom and through whom, 
power should be exercised to see that among the Indians right is 
maintained and wrongs remedied. These men will be selected 
annually, so that if you get a bad minded man, he can do great 
injury, and when you get a good man you should continue him in 
office and secure the benefits of his wisdom. 

As the Indians improve and gather around them property of all 
kinds, they will begin to esteem their property as does a white man. 
He will feel that he has made it by hard labor, and sometimes he 
will want protection for this property, and if he needs it, it is right 
that he should have it. When he puts in a erop of wheat. or oats 
or corn, or beans or potatoes, he will not want it destroyed by his 
neighbors’ cattle, and if they should break in and do him damage it 
is right he should be paid for it. If one Indian makes a purchase of 
another Indian of anything and does not pay, or borrows money or 
any other thing and returns it not, or makes a contract and does 
not keep his word, it is right that there should be a power some- 
where to regulate such matters, and to see that justice is done. A 
trespass may be committed upon another enclosure, or some other 
wrong may be done, in all which cases, the Peacemakers are made 
the arbiters and judges of the rights to be enforced or the wrongs 
to be abated. When a very great wrong is done, and the damages 
claimed exceed the sum that can be awarded by the Peacemakers 
then only can a suit be maintained before a Justice of the Peace. 
Such in brief are the duties of the Peacemakers, and I trust that 
you will agree that such offices are necessary in the present improved 
condition of the Tonawanda Band, and I shall further expect, that 
when this becomes a law, you will cheerfully aid in giving it a trial, 
for it has no other object than your own good and prosperity. 


Another important change proposed for your good is in reference 
to the timber upon your lands. You all know that once we had 
very good timber upon the Tonawanda Reservation. We had large 
and tall pines, plenty of whitewood, walnut, ash, basswood, oaks, 
hemlock and chestnut. We had plenty of all kinds of wood, with 
which to build a house and make good fences. All this has been 
either sold by the Indians or stolen by bad white men. It has never 
done the Indian any good. It has not made the Tonawandas one 
cent richer. They are still very poor, and their timber is nearly all 
gone. They have hardly enough left to make good rails for fences. 


APPENDIX 291 


They have no timber left fit to be manufactured into material for 
good houses. They have only enough left to serve them for firewood. 
We, therefore, prohibit all white men from buying timber in any 
shape from Indians, because we think the Indians need it all. If 
they do not want it now, the time is coming when they will require 
it. It may be cheap now, but by and by timber will become scarce 
and it will be valuable. It is sincerely hoped that upon this point 
you will be convinced, that to adopt this policy is for your good 
and that you will follow it. 


Again, another point. Your friends will rejoice with you, that 
you have got so much land that is yours from the surface to the 
eenter. They think you ought to make good use of this and that you 
ought to be very rich. You have very good lands. But you cultivate 
only a very small portion of it. You let your lands to white people 
and you get very small profits. This is not right. We want you to 
cultivate your own lands. The profits to you will be very much 
greater than to let your lands to the white people. It will be diffi- 
eult at first for the Indians to work all their improved or fenced 
lands, but they must get accustomed to it and then they will make 
their improvements larger and larger. Unless the Indians work their 
own lands, and cultivate a great deal more than they have hereto- 
fore done, they will be very foolish for owning so much waste and 
wild land. All we want, is to have the Indians work and receive the 
rich increase of their own lands. White men must not come in and 
take away the fat of your lands. You are not prohibited from having 
white men work for you but you are not to let your lands to them 
or cultivate your lands with them on shares. When you think this 
over carefully, I think that you will agree with your friends, that 
your adoption of this course will be a wise one, and of lasting 
benefit to your children. 


The law proposes to give the chiefs authority to lay out roads 
and make ample regulations and provisions for working them. They 
will also be empowered to make proper rules respecting line fences 
or division lines between neighbors. No one can object to this 
because it is very proper and right. There is no wrong in it. 


To carry out all the provisions of this contemplated law, it is 
provided that the District Attorney of Genesee County shall be the 
attorney and counsellor of the Tonawanda Band of Seneca Indians. 
He will be paid by the State. It will be his duty to prosecute all white 
persons who violate the wise provisions of the law to give you advice 
whenever required and to settle all difficulties between Indians when 
in his power and do all he can for your good. 


292 APPENDIX 


These are the general provisions of a law which your friend 
Martindale and myself have asked the Legislature of New York to 
enact for your benefit. We do not contemplate that you will ever 
become citizens of the United States, or that you will ever want 
to be such. And therefore we have guarded your lands in such a 
manner that you and your children may always enjoy the fruits and 
benefits of it. We know that in your present improved conditions, 
your change in mode of life, the circumstances and influences that 
surround you upon all sides, the simple laws that governed your 
fathers 50 or 100 years ago, are not adapted to your present condi- 
tion. And therefore without abolishing your ancient form of govern- 
ment which you understand so well, we have only asked for some 
new rules to give new vitality and efficiency to your government 
and materially enhance your prosperity. This is right, for no com- 
munity can exist and prosper unless in its government it has execu- 
tive power to enforce good order and obedience to its mandates. By 
this Law, you will be placed in a position that your prosperity will 
depend upon your own wisdom and exertions. You should all submit 
to it, and endeavor to make yourselves the richest and happiest 
Indian community in the State of New York. You must live as 
good neighbors and help one another. You must lay aside all 
quarrels, jealousies and envious feelings, and strive and labor all 
together to make yourselves happy and comfortable. When you 
help yourselves, you will find plenty of friends who will help you 
along. 


THE SACHEM AT CHATTANOOGA 
(See Chapter X.) 


HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, 
: IN THE FIELD. 


CHATTANOOGA, TENN., Nov. 21st, 1863. 


My Dear SisteR:—It is now two or three days since I received 
your last letter written at home and mailed from Batavia. That 
makes the third or fourth letter I have received from you since I 
left home. I am thankful to hear from you at all and therefore I 
do not complain. The home news generally gave me great pleasure, 
particularly that relating to father’s gradual recovery. Ever since 
you wrote of his failing health, his extreme sickness, and the despair 
of the doctor to save him, I have been quite wretched in feeling. 
Your news has almost wholly relieved my mind. 

Of course my letter informing you of my own misfortunes has 
been received. I am not well yet, but I am constantly on duty and 


APPENDIX 293 


this may be one reason why I do not recover more rapidly. I am 
slightly disappointed about our crops at home, but I rather think 
that it is more probable that we have been as well favored as our 
neighbors. Most of our crops are good and we should be very thank- 
ful that the Good Spirit has been so kind to us. 

I met with quite an accident today. I lent my horse to an 
officer to go across the river a few miles, and in coming home, as he 
was crossing the bridge, the horse jumped into the river and was 
drowned. This makes for me an investment of $150 in this miserable 
country. 

You may like particularly to know just where I am and just 
what kind of a country it is, and the character of the people who 
occupy it. Well, if you will look upon a map of the U. S., up in 
the northwest corner of the state of Georgia, you will see a town 
marked Chattanooga. It is not in Georgia, but in Tennessee, three 
miles from the state line and only a few miles from the northeast 
corner of the state of Alabama. The range of the Cumberland 
mountains pass through here. It is nothing more than a continua- 
tion of the Allegheny range of mountains and of course very much 
like them. Father ana old Sam both know a great deal about those 
mountains. The Tennessee river passes through this range of moun- 
tains at this point. And here we are among these mountains and 
our army lies on both sides of the river, which has in some places a 
flat upon one or both sides. The rebel army are south, east and 
west of us. In fact they almost surround us. If you understood 
topography, I would make you a topographical map of this particular 
section and let you study it. However, I will give you a little idea 
of my present home. 


You may get a slight idea from this of the place we occupy. 
Our troops are in Chattanooga and the rebels are all around us on 


294 APPENDIX 


the south side from river to river. Commencing at Lookout Moun- 
tain, their lines extend around until they strike the river again 
away above, not so far however but that our pickets can talk with 
the rebel pickets. It is very hilly, of course, like all mountainous 
country and the summits of the mountains are almost inaccessible. 
The rebels have a great many troops, estimated at 60,000. They 
fire at us every day with cannon from the top of Lookout Mountain 
which hangs over our city one-half mile above the plain we occupy. 
Our guns are on Moceasin Point, about 1200 feet below the big guns 
on Lookout Mountain, and yet our guns reach them at that high 
elevation. No day passes that the cannons are not engaged. 

Since we came here there has been one little battle fought, in 
which 500 or 600 men may have been killed. In two or three days a 
great battle will probably be fought if the enemy does not run 
away from us. It would have been fought today but we could not 
get ready. I have had so much to do that I had almost forgotten 
to write to you. I have known for some days that a great battle 
was pending, but as I have to do all the writing, I was given no 
time to think of anything else but my work. And now that the 
fight is postponed for a day at least, I concluded to write you. When 
the great battle is over I will write you again. The battle will be 
fought on our side by about 60,000 troops and we suppose the rebels 
number nearly the same. We intend to thrash them soundly and give 
the rebellion such a blow as to stagger its longer continuance in this 
region. General Grant feels confident of success, and so do we all. 
Many lives will be lost but no one who goes into battle ever thinks 
that he is the one to be victimized. General Bragg has a great habit 
of running away when he thinks the enemy opposed to him is his 
superior in strength. We are afraid that he will do this now and 
that we shall have had our trouble for nothing, for really our prepara- 
tions have been on a grand scale. 

It is no part of our program to relinquish one foot of ground 
that we now hold and occupy. and if the rebels propose to drive us 
back, they must fight most desperately to do it. 

The country people of the entire South, so far as I have seen, 
do not live as well or as comfortable as the Tonawanda Indians. 
They may, before the war broke out, have had plenty to eat and 
been well clothed. But today many of them have nothing but corn, 
and now and then meat and seldom potatoes. Wheat bread is almost 
unknown among them. Our troops are obliged to feed a great many 
of the whites who have not left their homes and joined the seceders. 
The negroes, once slaves, of course are all with us and are our 
servants for pay. The country houses are built of logs, generally 


APPENDIX 295 


round logs and chinked up, but very often entirely open, that is, 
without chinks. Any Indian house is better and more comfortable 
and cleaner. Their clothes are home-made and of a color they call 
butternut. The men wear butternut pants and coats, and the women 
coarse homespun dresses very much like our old-fashioned flannel, 
usually called domestic fiannel. They do not wear hoops because 
such articles to be had must come from the North. I am now writing 
only of the whites who have not left their homes upon the approach 
of our army. Most of the houses throughout the country are deserted 
or abandoned. O Carrie! this is a most desolate country, and no 
human being can realize or comprehend the dreadful devastation and 
horrors created by war, until they have been in its track. 

From Louisville, in Kentucky, south for about 100 miles, the 
original appearance of the country is pretty well preserved. The 
people occupy their houses and are apparently quietly pursuing 
agricultural employments. Their fences are good and you see fine 
crops growing and cattle, horses, hogs and sheep grazing in the 
pastures. You then begin to come into a desolated, devastated and 
burnt district, and the further south you go the more like a desert 
it looks. You see lone chimneys standing where onee may have been 
a fine mansion; there are no longer any fences around their once 
highly-cultivated fields. Rank weeds now grow all over the land. 
Probably there is not now one acre cultivated, where before the war 
there were 100 acres. Every village or collection of houses we come 
to is deserted. Nobody but negroes live in them. The windows are 
all out and the fine mahogany and rosewood furniture now forms the 
ornaments of negro cabins. The fine dresses that white ladies once 
bedeeked themselves with, now hang shabbily upon the ungainly 
figure of some huge, dilapidated negro wench. 

We occupy Chattanooga and we have no southern whites among 
us, except the poor ‘‘white trash,’’ and they are so poor that they 
ean hardly speak the English language. Oh! it is really a pitiful 
sight to see these people suffering to the extent they are. A blind 
infatuation that by and by we are going to withdraw our troops 
from their country and relinquish the country, and consent to a 
separation of the American Union, makes them endure all this 
suffering and humiliation. Sometimes our troops come upon these 
people so suddenly that they have only time to eseape with what they 
ean carry on their backs, leaving their comfortable houses for our 
poor soldiers to luxuriate in. 

We are now having Indian summer weather. It is very delight- 
ful and pleasant. In a few days will commence our winter weather 
which lasts until about January, and in March and April we have 


296 APPENDIX 


another rainy spell... We are here in the ancient homes of the 
Cherokees, and our present quarters are only about twelve miles from 
Jno. Ross’ old home. By and by, as I see more of the South, I will 
give you another history of it. My letter has reached its seventh 
page. I do not think you will find time to read it, and I will close, 
hoping that the Great Spirit may protect you all, and keep us all 
safe until by His kind providence we are permitted again to see each 
other. , 
From your brother, 
Ety 8. Parker. 


Miss CARRIE G. PARKER. 


HOW THE QUAKERS FOUGHT A LAND CONSPIRACY 


A history of the great land operations was so much the history 
of the New York Iroquois during these years that a correct account 
of the Odgen Land Company is necessary to the understanding of 
the tribal situation in which Ely S. Parker was a prominent actor. 


Soon after the close of the War for Independence the State of 
Massachusetts laid formal claim to a large tract of land lying west 
of the Genesee river. After a dispute between the authorities of 
New York and of Massachusetts, a compromise was effected. Mass- 
achusetts ceded to New York all her right and title to the sov- 
ereignty and jurisdiction of these lands and New York ceded to 
Massachusetts, and her granters, to their heirs and assigns, the 
pre-emptive rights of all the lands occupied by the Six Nations 
Indians and embraced in the disputed tract. This affected only 
the Tuscaroras and Senecas. 


This pre-emptive right was only the right to purchase these 
lands when the Indians wished of their own free will and accord 
to sell as corporate nations. Dissolution of the tribe or the tribe’s 
refusal would make. impossible a transaction. 


Massachusetts in 1791 sold her interest in this land to the 
Holland Land Company, which in turn sold it to David Ogden. This 
act gave rise to the Ogden Land Company. By shrewd schemes 
this company laid plot for the purchase of the title from the Indians. 

By legitimate purchase certain lands were conveyed to pur- 
chasers in 1794, 1797 and in 1802, which was the date of the Phelps, 
Bronson and Jones purchase. Again in 1823 there was the Gregg 
and Gibson purchase. All these sales were made openly and under 
the joint supervision of the Federal Government and representatives 
of the state of Massachusetts. 


APPENDIX 297 


Schemes were put in motion and as early as 1818 we find the 
beginning of fraudulent work. Certain reputed agents of two small 
bands of New York Indians, the Oneidas and Brothertowns, applied 
for permission to purchase with their own means and upon their 
own account of the Green Bay, Wisconsin, Menominies, a tract of 
land. 

Then later, in 1838, began a high-handed scheme for the 
removal of the New York Indians. The Senecas were dismayed at 
the powers arrayed against them, but rallied their strong men and 
looked about them for friends. The plan was to stimulate a desire 
among the Indians ‘‘to go West’’ and there to organize emigration 
parties or bands. 

In this crisis the Quakers became the active defenders of the 
Iroquois. They had early manifested a benevolent interest in the 
Indians about them. Far from regarding them as did other colon- 
ists, the Quakers pursued a policy of unselfish service. If a thing 
was right with them it should be done. Compensation or reward 
was not considered. Neither was power, money, land or influence 
sought. Their policy at first puzzled the natives who could scarcely 
believe that the whites who appeared so avaricious could manifest 
any degree of altruism. | 

In 1796 Cornplanter asked the Philadelphia Quakers to educate 
three children, among them his son Henry. Five years later we find 
a Quaker mission among the Oneidas and Tuscaroras. There seemed 
to be no special effort on the part of the Quakers to force the Indians 
to aecept the religion of the white men, nor indeed to seek to have 
the Indians accept their own creed. The Quakers simply taught 
manual industry such as milling, spinning, cooking and agriculture. 
With that they taught the rudiments of elementary school subjects. 
The religion that they taught was expressed almost solely in action. 
There was no attempt to rush in and with angry outbursts condemn 
all that the Indian natively believed. 

In 1799 the Indians grew suspicious of the motives of such 
unheard-of white men and began to suspect after all that there were 
ulterior motives. The Quakers then quietly withdrew. 

Just the year before, however, in 1798, a mission had been 
established at Allegany and later as will be shown one was planted 
at Cattaraugus. 

Here they remained undisturbed through the second war with 
Great Britain, though six hundred of the Iroquois enlisted as United 
States regulars. During this period the Quakers are said to have 
averted an epidemic of small-pox by vaccinating one thousand 
Indians. Another early mission was among the broken tribes from 


298 APPENDIX 


northeastern Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Massachusetts. These 
were known as the Stockbridges and Brothertowns who lived among 
the Oneidas. This mission was established in 1807 but afterwards 
abandoned. The Indians at Oneida had sadly fallen victims to the 
trader’s rum. 

In reply to the entreaties of one of the early missionaries the 
famous Red Jacket exclaimed: ‘‘You have got our country from 
us but you are not satisfied,—you want to force our religion from 
us. We understand your religion is written in a great book. If 
it was intended for us as well as for you why did not the Great 
Spirit give it to us, but not only to us but why did he not give it 
to our forefathers? You say there is but one way to worship the 
Great Spirit. If there is one religion why do you white people 
dispute about it so much? Why are you not all agreed? You can 
all read the Book. 

‘We also have a religion which was given us by our forefathers 
and has been handed down to us, their children. We worship in 
that way. It teaches us to be thankful for all the favors we received, 
to love each other and be united. We never quarrel about religion. 

‘“Brothers, we have been told that you have been preaching 
near here. These people are our neighbors. We know them and 
will wait a little while and see what effect your preaching will have 
upon them; if we find it does them good—makes them more honest 
and less disposed to cheat Indians, we will then consider what you 
have said to us.’’ 

At another time Red Jacket replied to the missionaries, denying 
that the contact of the Indians with the whites had improved the 
Indians. ‘‘Thus you see,’’ he said, ‘‘that our attempts to pattern 
after your example makes the Great Spirit angry—He does not 
crown your exertions.’’ 


Such was the temper of the man, Red Jacket, when the strength 
of manhood governed his mental action and when he yet had some 
faint confidence in the power of his people to hold their own. How 
different in tone are the utterances of his old age! The feebleness 
of his race bit into his spirit and he exclaims, ‘‘I am about to leave 
you, and my warning voice will no longer be heard or regarded; the 
craft of the white man will prevail. I am an aged tree and can 
stand no longer. My leaves are fallen and my branches are withered 
and I am shaken by every breeze. Soon my aged trunk will be 
prostrate and the foot of the exulting foe of the Indians may be 
placed upon it with safety; for there is none who will be able to 
avenge such an insult. Think not that I mourn for myself. I go 
to join the spirits of my fathers where age and suffering cannot 


APPENDIX 299 


come, but my heart fails when I think of my people who are so soon 
to be seattered, destroyed and forgotten.’’ 

It is then that Red Jacket thought of the Friends who have 
ever been faithful. Into his distressed mind came the hope that 
they might intercede for his people and protect them from their 
enemies. The traditions of his fathers has told of the strange white 
men who actually did as they promised and conquered by kindness. 
Thus it was that in 1827 Red Jacket went to the city of New York 
and attended the yearly meeting of the Quakers and to entreat them 
to take his people under their care and to give them the type of 
civilization that was best, to educate the young men and to teach 
industry and agriculture. More particularly, no doubt, he was 
anxious that a just people should reside among his own and protect 
them from the greed of the unscrupulous land speculator. The matter 
was considered by the Friends and they informed him that inasmuch 
as the Friends had a mission at Onondaga they could not see their 
way clear to undertake a mission to the Senecas, that they would 
seek, however, for some means by which his prayer might be granted. 


Nearly two years passed by and the anxiety of Red Jacket 

increased. On January 20th he wrote to the Society of Friends of 
the city of New York: ‘‘ At the treaty of Philadelphia with William 
Penn and the Six Nations, we considered William Penn a friend to 
us; he did not wish to cheat us out of our lands but was disposed 
to pay us a fair value for them. Since that time the Society of 
Friends have treated us kindly. They have never shown a dispo- 
sition to wrong us out of our lands, but they have seemed to wish 
to cultivate friendship with us.’’ In the next paragraph he states, 
‘‘There are at present six thousand of our people and upwards who 
wish that Society to send a suitable person among us.’’ 
Again he was disappointed but was invited to confer with a 
committee of three and explain the situation. This conference 
resulted in a visit in 1830. They met on the Buffalo creek reser- 
vation where the council was presided over by fourteen chiefs and 
more than two hundred of the people. From Buffalo the committee 
proceeded to Cattaraugus. As a result of this visitation the Com- 
mittee drew up a report in which they stated: ‘‘At a General 
Council in which both the Christian and pagan parties were present 
the Indians appeared very grateful for this attention on the part 
of the Friends, stating that they believed that the Great Spirit had 
put it into the hearts of the children of William Penn to thus visit 
them.’’ 

The Indians set aside a farm tract at Cattaraugus in the very 
heart of the pagan settlement and a residence was erected. Two 


300 APPENDIX 


hundred acres were laid out and seventy cleared and fenced. In 
1833 the school was opened and there was an average attendance 
of twenty-five children. From that time on the farm, school and 
mission was given into the charge of the Genesee yearly meeting 
who labored faithfully for five years. Early in the year 1838 the 
Quaker missionaries discovered that their Seneca charges were suf- 
fering from a great deal of excitement and were charging that there 
was a movement on foot to rob them of every foot of land they 
owned in the state of New York. It appears that a council had 
been held near Buffalo in which a minority of the chiefs had signed 
away all four reservations. It was feared by the Senecas that the 
Federal Government would fail to heed the great remonstrance sent 
forth by the members of the tribe and the loyal chiefs and the 
infamous treaty would be ratified and they sent to destruction. 


Inquiry revealed that. it was the settled policy of the Govern- 
ment to remove every tribe and send them to the west of the 
Mississippi river. The Quakers were on the alert in an instant and 
the Senecas made desperate, frightened appeals to the various meet- 
ings for assistance in averting the loss of their ancestral domain 
and escaping the sure death that awaited them if they were forced 
west into the unsettled regions. 


Early in the history of the English colonies Massachusetts had 
claimed ownership of Western New York and after the Revolution 
had relinquished its pre-emptive claims to the Ogden Land Company. 


Western New York was one of the finest pieces of agricultural 
land in the Middle Atlantic States. It was a garden spot and its 
great possibilities even in 1838 made it a sought-for region. The 
Indians held great tracts of this land. It was among the most 
fertile in all Western New York, for they had been shrewd enough 
to retain the fertile flats and rich tracts adjacent to and lying upon 
four great streams of water—Buffalo creek, Tonawanda creek, 
Cattaraugus creek and the Allegheny river. Here was a prize worth 
winning. There was money in it. Money,—gold for the asking, 
fortunes, if it could be obtained. The Indians held it. The Ogden 
Land Company wanted it and the gold it would produce. What 
matter if that gold were sweated from the blood of men and women? 
What matter if men were corrupted by bribery? That land must 
be obtained. It seemed fortunate that the ‘‘settled policy of the 
Government was to remove the Indian west of the Mississippi! ’’ 
It then only remained to seduce the Indians there who had been 
assured by solemn compact that they might stay as long as they 
desired. 


APPENDIX 301 


The agents of the Land Company went among the Indians. 
Thousands of dollars were spent in concocting a scheme by which it 
could be signed away. Sixteen Senecas chiefs out of eighty-one 
were bribed by amount varying from one to five thousand dollars.1 
They were in turn to corrupt other chiefs and get their signatures. 
The story is a shocking one. The Quakers investigated. They 
could not be bribed or their opinions prejudiced. A moderate 
people were they and yet from the records of their own investigation 
we read, ‘‘. . . the committee became thoroughly satisfied of the 
revolting fact that in order to drive these poor Indians from their 
lands deception and fraud had been practiced to an extent perhaps 
without parallel in the dark history of oppression and wrong, to which 
the aborigines of our country have been subjected.’’ 

The Quakers at once began to work. They were thoroughly 
aroused. At once they got into communication with the Secretary 
of War, with the President himself and with the members of 
Congress. 

The chiefs protested against the fraudulent treaty. Their 
names had been forged to it. So had thirty or forty other names. 
The land Company erected a council-house of their own in order 
that they could say the treaty was made in ‘‘open council.’’ Chiefs 
were lured to Buffalo, were drugged and intoxicated. Their names 
appeared on the treaty. Some were awakened in the night and made 
to sign an unknown paper in the dark. Every sort of force was 
used, forgery, calumny, physical violence and bribery. It is a 
sickening tale and a horrible demonstration of the moral shallowness 
of civilization. Several times the treaty was sent back. This was 
the result of the remonstrance of the Quakers. The Rev. Asher 
Wright, the Congregational missionary, worked night and day in 
collecting evidence, in carrying the remonstrance and in encouraging 
the people to be brave. 

“At length the treaty was ratified. The land was no longer the 
Senecas’. They were to be dispossessed. Some were taken west 
under a certain Doctor Hugemboam. The most of these emigrants 
died of malarial diseases. The majority of people, however, 
remained in their old homes. They wished to die in the land of their 
fathers and resolved to cluster about their fathers’ graves to be 
shot to death, rather than abandon what was theirs. They asked 
Elder Wright if they were not right in this end; he told them to 
embody that statement in a memorial to the President. 


1. See the Quaker document, The Case of the Seneca Indians, Philadelphia, 
1840. 


302 APPENDIX 


In vain did the Society of Friends appeal to the conscience of 
the President and to the honor of the Senate. In one of their 
memorials a combined committee of fourteen men representing four 
Yearly Meetings appealed in these words: 

‘To contemplate the forcible removal of the Indians and the 
heart-rending scene that must accompany such a removal is shocking 
to every sentiment of justice and humanity. To see a great and 
powerful nation lending its aid to oppress the weak and helpless 
must tend to loosen the attachment of the people to their government. 

The United States by the peculiar nature of their institutions 
stand conspicuously before the world. . . . May the Ruler of the 
Universe in His boundless mercy so direct the delegated authorities 
that they may be directed by the principles of justice and mercy.’’ 

All through the bitter trial it was the Quaker, Philip E. Thomas 
of the Baltimore Meeting and Asher Wright of the American Board 
of Commissioners of Foreign Missions, who carried the standards. 
Dr. Wright was everywhere. A university man of rare attainments, 
he had chosen a life in the wilds that his God might be glorified. 
He knew the Iroquois language perfectly, more perfectly indeed 
than any native. The Senecas respected him. His athletic prowess, 
his skill with the rifle and his knowledge of the woods excited their 
admiration. His zeal for their salvation inspired their reverence. 
Like the Quakers, he was no man to bluster in upon native cere- 
monies and drive out the participants. A rare man for his day, he 
collected their myths and legends, wrote a grammar of their language 
and took down the texts of their rituals. With his devoted wife he 
healed the sick. Neither ship fever nor small-pox frightened him or 
the wife who worked by his side. And his niece, Martha, as a nurse, 
bathed the sick, whatever the disease might be; she held the cup 
when there was bleeding to be done, and stripped the leeches. At 
one time she washed two hundred blankets that came from the set- 
tlement where yellow fever was raging. Small wonder that a tall 
sub-chief admired his brave nurse and teacher! He was a descendant 
of Handsome Lake the Prophet, the brother of the head chief of the 
Senecas. He married the nurse. He was Nicholson H. Parker, the 
brother of Ely. With Dr. Wright he translated and printed the 
New Testament into Seneca, and with Dr. Wright he labored for 
the saving of his people’s home country. 


Philip Thomas and Dr. Wright succeeded in effecting a settle- 
ment by which only the Buffalo creek and Tonawanda reservations 
were to be released, and by which Cattaraugus and Allegany were 
saved. But the loved Do-show-weh of their ancestral pride, the 
Buffalo creek reservation, was lost. Here were some of their most 


APPENDIX 303 


precious memorials. It had been a meeting place of the Six Nations, 
It was the home of Mary Jemison and of Red Jacket. Their fathers’ 
bones were there. 


The Buffalo Senecas were embittered. Their hearts turned 
from molten iron to coldest stone. They moved to Cattaraugus. 
They went back to the ways of their fathers. They would not 
permit missionaries to come and even Dr. Wright was only tolerated 
because they believed in his integrity. 

The Buffalo Senetas settlement at Cattaraugus was upon an 
unfertile clay hill. That it was so mattered not; their hearts were 
dead. They would have nothing to do with Christianity. Today 
that spot is the stronghold of paganism in the form of Handsome 
Lake’s ‘‘new religion.’’ 

The people were still agitated. Their educated leaders wished 
a revolution in their native government. Peter Wilson hinted at the 
plan in his address before the Baltimore Friends in 1848 when he 
said: 


““Ts there one here whose bosom does not heave or whose heart 
does not beat in unison and sympathy for the oppressed that are 
thus struggling to become emancipated? 


“*Ts there one here whose philanthropic and patriotic spirit is 
not aroused with the thrilling tidings come over the great salt waters 
that millions of human beings are becoming free: that the spirit 
of freedom has crossed from America over the great ocean into the 
old world and there planted the standard of liberty? 


**T am aware that my friends do not approve of war, but I 
know that you are the advocates of liberty. Shall the Indian then 
be censured because he too has become infected with the epidemic 
that pervades the political atmosphere in this free America? No, 
I trust not. 

‘The political agitation among my people is but the onward 
and upward progress in the scale of civilization and it is hoped that 
before long the people will arrive at the elevated position of your 
people, where the friends of the Indians have long desired to weleome 
them. 

‘*Permit me therefore to conclude by expressing the hope that 
this committee, and the Society they represent, will continue their 
labors and care toward us until we shall become able to walk alone, 
and we shall have arrived at a maturity that will enable us to 
sustain ourselves and come to enjoy all the relations and privileges 
of American citizens.’’ 


304 APPENDIX 


The work of the Quakers and of the faithful Philip E. Thomas 
did not end here. The appeal of the people was too earnest. The 
corrupt chiefs must be ousted and a better government established. 

Through the advice and help of Philip E. Thomas, of Dr. 
Wright, of Dr. Peter Wilson, Nathaniel Strong and Maris B. 
Pierce, the last three being educated Indians with college training, 
a revolution took place. This was in 1848. The old chiefs were 
ousted. No longer could they handle money belonging to the tribe. 
The people come into power with a constitutional government and a 
written code of laws. There were not enough adherents to the 
deposed chiefs to cause any trouble. A bloodless revolution had 
been successful. The allies of fraud, the betrayers of the people 
had been overthrown. The people were supreme. Their best men 
then threw every energy into constructive work. 

The Tonawandas having had no part in any treaty, and being 
dispossessed, were in a precarious position. Without any approval 
on their part, despite their remonstrances, they were made a landless 
people. But they refused to leave the ground which they owned by 
every moral law. They refused to have a part in the new ‘‘ Republic 
of the Seneca Indians’’ just as they had refused to abide by the 
decision of the ‘‘chiefs’’ government. So they returned to the 
government of their fathers of old and ‘‘raised up’’ the sachems 
who were ordained by Hiawatha and Dekanawideh with the approval 
of Jikonsaseh, the Mother of Nations. 


GENERAL PARKER’S REPLY TO THE CHARGES AGAINST 
HIS ADMINISTRATION 


Mr. Cuarrman:—In asking you to consider the suggestion sub- 
mitted by my friend and counsel in this investigation, General Chip- 
man, it is proper, perhaps, that I should say a word myself. I will not 
attempt to go over the testimony, as that has been done by my friend, 
nor could I do so with any satisfaction to myself, or in any way to aid 
your committee, for I have not been able to attend the investigation, 
during its progress, and am not familiar enough with the facts of record 
to assist you in your examination of it. I do not know, either, that I 
can now add anything to what I have said under oath, in replying to 
questions asked me by the committee, and which I suppose were in- 
tended to cover the whole ground of the investigation. 


When I entered upon the discharge of the duties of my office, I 
knew how sensitive the public were with regard to the administration 
of our Indian affairs. I knew, too, the solicitude with which Congress 
has always regarded that bureau of our Government service, and firmly 
resolved that I would administer the office to the best of my ability, 
and in such a manner that no taint of dishonor, at least, should ever 
attach to my conduct. To what extent my ability has proved equal 


APPENDIX 305 


to the duties devolved upon me, it is not becoming for me to speak. 
Know that I have spared no pains, no sacrifice of personal convenience 
and pleasure, to discharge my whole duty faithfully. I do not claim 
that I have made no mistakes, for that is more, I think, than can well 
be claimed by any public officer; but, Mr. Chairman, I do say, and I 
speak it in as solemn a manner as I am capable, and to this extent I 
have already sworn, that I have never profited pecuniarily, or indeed 
otherwise, by any transaction in my official capacity while I have been 
serving as Commissioner of Indian Affairs. I cannot know in advance 
how you will regard the various matters which have been made the sub- 
ject of your investigation, as they affect my personal honor and official 
integrity; but whether they are sufficiently explained by the facts in 
the record or not, no view which you may take of them can change the 
knowledge within my own breast, that I have never sought to defraud 
the Government out of one penny, or have knowingly lent my aid to 
others with that view. There is not to be found anywhere in connec- 
tion with this trial—if I may speak of it as a trial—a single transaction 
about which I had at the time, or until Mr. Welsh published his letter 
of December last, the slightest suspicion that my conduct would be 
inquired into. All of my official acts now before your committee, were 

erformed in the usual routine of my official duties. I gave them no 
urther thought afterwards than such as would naturally come up in 
the mind of a public officer in the casual review of his past administra- 
tion. When I was, in January, suddenly called upon to explain trans- 
actions of my office, six months previous, I could only rely for explana- 
tions upon such records as happened to remain in my office, and upon 
such facts as I could from other sources, bring to the attention of the 
committee. As to the effect of these records and facts, you are to be 
the judges, and I leave them with you in the full belief that you will 
weigh them well before you condemn my action. If human testimony is 
to be believed, and if my sworn statements, as well as the sworn state- 
ments of others with whom I was suspected of being in complicity, are 
to be credited, I think I may safely leave the question of my personal 
honor in your hands. As to the wisdom of any particular act of mine 
into which you have been examining, of course your judgment and mine 
may differ, and as to this I can only rest upon the circumstances sur- 
rounding me at the time, and the facts in the record, tending to show 
whether I acted wisely or not. 


You must admit, Mr. Chairman, that the matter is one of great 
moment to me, and while I have no right to ask at your hands any 
report other than that which may be the result of your own convictions, 
I think I have the right to ask that at the time you make it to the House 
of Representatives, you will also state all the material facts upon which 
your conclusions should rest. I do not shrink from any responsibility 
which I have incurred, or its just consequences, and I only ask that 
that body which ultimately determines upon the result of this investi- 
gation, shall have that full knowledge of my conduct which will enable 
them to form a correct judgment in a matter of such great importance 
to me. 


E. S. PARKER. 
Hon. A. A. SARGENT, 
Chairman, etc. 


306 APPENDIX 


Then came the defence of Parker by Gen. N. P. Chipman. Every 
charge was discussed in detail and met with the records of the depart- 
ment. A brief portion of Gen. Chipman’s defence is quoted. It con- 
tains several interesting paragraphs and demonstrates that Gen. Parker 
was absolutely clean in all his dealings. 


“General Parker interpreted the law naturally and honestly, and 
executed it accordingly. If he had entertained a suspicion that a dif- 
ferent view was held by the Board of Indian Commissioners from his 
own, no one who knows the efforts made by him to maintain the best 
relations with that board would doubt that he would have brought it 
to their attention. I cannot help expressing the opinion that if the 
board itself had felt this matter to be one of consequence, and had 
regarded the commissioner as excluding them from any proper partici- 
pation in the affairs of his office, they would have brought it to his 
attention. The gentlemen composing that board are not churls, nor 
are they cowards. They assumed their duties, and have performed 
them, at great personal sacrifice. They are men of standing and char- 
acter. 

“They could afford to speak frankly and openly with regard to all 
matters about which they had cause for complaint. They could not 
afford to conceal anything, and I do not believe they did conceal 28 
thing. Beyond the conduct of Mr. Colyer and the great interest he 
has shown in prosecuting this case, there is not to be found a er 
instance which tends to show the slightest want of confidence on the 
part of the board in the present Commissioner of Indian Affairs. It is 
certainly a little remarkable that the secretary and mouthpiece of the 
board, who is by law charged with the responsibility of performing cer- 
tain duties in connection with the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and 
between whom and himself there should be not only confidence, but the 
closest relations, should attend this investigation night after night, 
aiding the prosecutor in the accomplishment of a purpose to remove 
the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. I do not believe that Mr. Colyer 
in such a position, indelicate and improper as it must seem to any mind 
to be, can be acting under the authority of the Board of Commissioners. 

“But this is a divergence, Mr. Chairman, not important, and which 
I must beg pardon for having indulged in. The question here is, 
whether the Commissioner of Indian Affairs is to be censured for having 
discharged a duty devolved upon him by law, without consulting the 
board, which he did not at the time believe it was his duty under the 
law to do. You must in this as well as in other points connected with 
this investigation, give some weight to motives; and where the motive 
was not a bad one, and no evil consequences followed from the conduct 
of the officer, it certainly cannot be the duty or province of this com- 
mittee to condemn. 


“Tt is no unusual thing in private as well as in official life, and in the 
management of private as well as public affairs, for one man to take 
upon himself the responsibility of performing duties which are made 
incumbent upon two or more. The law which originally created this 
board gave teh joint control over all the disbursements of the Indian 
Department, and yet that control was practically taken away from 
them by the executive order; and I do not suppose that out of the mil- 
lions of dollars disbursed by the Interior Department, under that act, 


APPENDIX 307 


that the Board of Commissioners were called upon, or had an oppor- 
tunity even, of participating in the disbursements of one-fiftieth part of 
it. That law did not require the Secretary, it is true, to consult the 
board, in terms; but how else could they have joint control without 
consultation? And if he failed to consult them or furnish them the 
opportunity of exercising that joint control, was he less to blame than 

mmissioner Parker in the subsequent law which made it his duty to 
consult the board? We have never heard any investigation contem- 
plated into the conduct of the a! Me the Interior or of the Com- 
missioner of the Indian Affairs, under that law, nor have we ever heard 
of complaint being made against the President for practically annulling 
that clause which gave joint control. 

“Mr. Chairman, if this were the first instance where an officer of 
the Government dared to take responsibilities in the administration of 
official duties, it might not be remarkable that public attention should 
be drawn to it; but, sir, as I run back over the last decade, and reflect 
upon the perils to our nation’s life, which a strong hand has averted 
with public approval, even when the law had to be borne down and 
set aside, I cannot believe an honest officer, in the honest discharge of 
duty, well performed, will at this day be the first to suffer for his courage 
where he violated no law. 

“We do not need to go beyond the last two or three years, or beyond 
the Indian service, to find examples of fearless discharge of duty in 
cases not unlike this. 

“How long is it, Mr. Chairman, since General Sherman, in con- 
nection with the members of the Peace Commission created by Con- 
gress, incurred an expenditure without authority of law, vastly greater 
than was involved in that portion of Commissioner Parker’s purchases, 
which were made under an emergency? 

“How long is it since General Sherman, on a single telegram to the 
Governor of Montana, authorized the raising of troops, to be paid by 
the National Government, involving an expenditure of a million dol- 
lars, for the payment of which Congress has made provision? 

“Who has had the temerity to attack General Sherman or the Peace 
Commission? 

“Who has ever sought to arraign General Harney for feeding the 
same Indians for whom Commissioner Parker made provision, although 
General Harney, without authority of law, incurred an expenditure 
vastly beyond that which Commissioner Parker incurred? 

“Who had dared to insinuate that General Sherman was in fraudu- 
lent collusion with contractors because he paid large prices for beef, 
much larger than General Parker paid? Who ever thought of bringing 
General Harney before a committee in Congress for paying almost 
three times as much for flour as Commissioner Parker did? The Indian 
office has been arraigned over and over again, and probably more dis- 
cussion has taken place in and out of Congress upon the management 
of Indian affairs than upon any other, and I have yet to learn of an 
effort having ever been made to convict an Indian Commissioner of 
violation of law for making provision, as Commissioner Parker did. 
The necessity for sometimes resorting to open-market purchases and 
contracts without advertisement, has been recognized by every Ad- 
ministration and I think I may say every Congress. With this knowl- 
edge, and these precedents to guide him, how monstrous it is to assail 

mmissioner Parker upon this ground! 


308 APPENDIX 


“If Mr. Welsh desires to keep the Indian Office free from outside 
rings and corrupt combinations, heaven help; but if he expects to 
reform our public service by wholesale charges of corruption that have 
no foundation except in his own fertile brain; if he hopes to reassure 
public confidence by destroying the faith the people have in their public 
servants, through the means of a vexatious and heartless pursuit of 
those in official position; if he hopes to engraft upon our Indian man- 
agement the benign influence of the church through an unchristian 
method of attack; if he hopes to elevate the Indian by openly declaring, 
as he has, that the President has put into the office to which they look 
for protection, one who is but a remove from barbarism, thus stig- 
matizing the whole race; if he believes that the Christian people of 
this land are to join him in a crusade against this representative of the 
Indian by groundless accusations; if in short, he intends to work out 
certain theories of his own, under cover of Christian philanthropy, 
without regard to consequences, he will find he has undertaken that 
which will recoil fearfully upon him, and which will awaken an indig- 
nant protest from every honest heart. 

“Mr, Chairman, you and others are not blind to the general results 
of the President’s policy, so ably carried out in its details by the Indian 
Bureau; you have seen no Indian war desolating our border, since its 
inauguration; your committee of appropriations have had no millions 
to provide as heretofore, for large numbers of troops to avenge the 
murders of our frontier citizens, and repress the warlike spirit of the 
Indians; the dollars expended by Commissioner Parker have been units 
to the tens previously expended; since this trial began you have pro- 
vided for additional of the warlike savages who are coming in to be 
fed and to acquire our habits of life, and you know the general feeling 
which pervades the people along the border is, that we must hold out 
every encouragement in the direction now being taken; you know— 
for you had frequent intercourse with the Commissioner,—how ear- 
nestly he has bent his energies to second the wishes of the President and 
Congress in this regard. Is it then too much to ask that these things 
be considered? At the worst, this record shows only that the Commis- 
sioner has been too bountiful in his supplies of food, although it does 
not appear that a pound of provisions has been wasted; at the worst, 
he has erred in not feeding the Indians from hand to mouth, keeping 
their minds full of doubt each day as to their subsistence for the next. 
I believe, Mr. Chairman, Commissioner Parker has no regret that he 
chose the course he did. By so doing he has convinced the Indians that 
the Government is in earnest and that it may be trusted. 

“Tt may well be asked, what would have been the gravity of Mr. 
Welsh’s complaint had a timid policy been pursued at the juncture we 
have considered, and an Indian outbreak been the result? I doubt not, 
he would have then held the Commissioner responsible for not doing 
the very thing of which he now complains. 

“But, sir, a subject of this gravity is not to be judged by the cost of 
a few thousand pounds of beef or sacks of flour; or an accidental side of 
bacon, with a rib in it; or a few barrels of sugar made of molasses; or 
the difference between the cost of shipping goods up the Missouri River 
in the spring and fall; or the cent per cent bargaining by which some men 
amass large fortunes in cities like Philadelphia. 

“Gentlemen in public positions, called upon to assume responsibili- 
ties unknown to urban merchants, learn to take broader views of affairs 


APPENDIX 309 


of state. The experience of your committee, Mr. Chairman, as public 
men, furnishes some guaranty that Commissioner Parker will be judged 
from the standpoint of statesmanship, and not that of a tradesman, 
who, however honest and well-meaning, may be very narrow when he 


. 


comes to view subjects new to him. 


A review of all the evidence resulted in clearing General Parker of 
any wrongdoing, greatly to the confusion of those who sought to dis- 
credit him. 


SECRETARY SEWARD’S INTEREST IN THE INDIANS 
(See Chapter IT, Page 102) 


Secretary William H. Seward had no personal enmity to Ely 8S. 
Parker in rejecting his proffered services as an engineer in the army. 
We have no means of explaining why the Secretary did not seek 
to place him in some position of authority or of usefulness, as 
Parker was well known in Washington circles. Perhaps Mr. Seward 
only reflected the feeling of the time that the struggle was between 
the whites only. 

In justice to Secretary Seward we present the editorial from the 
New York Mirror given below. It indicates his very deep friendship 
for the New York Indians. The clipping is from General Parker’s 
scrap book—one that he made before he entered the army. The edi- 
torial follows: 


Tue Srx Nations 


Mr. Seward will receive the thanks of all friends of justice and 
humanity for his successful resistance of the attempt made in the Sen- 
ate on Thursday night to pass a bill removing the remains of the Con- 
federated Iroquois of this State from their ancient seats to new and 
strange abodes in the far West. It was a barbarous proposition, un- 
called for by any public necessity, and prompted solely by speculative 
avarice. There have been for many years unscrupulous white men 
regarding with greedy eyes the valuable lands of the Indians in Central 
and Western New York, and monstrous frauds have been resorted to, 
without shame or remorse, to displace the remnants of the Six Nations 
from their reservations. These base efforts have hitherto been baffled. 
Disinterested gentlemen of the legal profession have volunteered their 
services in behalf of the red men, exposing in the courts with signal 
ability and success the villainy sought to be practised against them. It 
should be understood that these relics of a once powerful and most 
interesting Confederation are by no means savages. They have com- 
fortable dwellings, churches, school-houses, mills and cultivated farms. 
Many of them differ little in education, manners or intelligence from 
the majority of their white neighbors. Their leading men are accom- 
plished gentlemen. The present Chief ot the Six Nations, Mr. Ely S. 
Parker, a person of academical education and respectable character, is 
by profession a civil engineer, employed on the canals of the State. 


310 APPENDIX 


Such are the people whom it has been proposed to drive away from their 
homes beyond the Mississippi. It is impossible that the Senate could 
have understood the real nature of the bill. Interested parties had no 
doubt taken pains to misrepresent and deceive. But Mr. Seward, with 
personal knowledge of the case in all its aspects, came to the rescue in a 
speech which would not be conquered. 

The condition of the Indians in question, although comfortable and 
happy, is somewhat anomalous. With a creditable degree of general 
intelligence, and subject to the laws of the white community in the 
midst of which they dwell, they are neither regarded as citizens nor 
recognized as foreigners. Naturalization is forbidden them, and they 
can be endowed with the privileges of citizenship only by special act 
of the Legislature. But as an offset they are not taxed. On the other 
hand, they are incapacitated to alienate their lands without legislative 
permission. It would not be true to claim that, as a whole, they equal 
their white neighbors in industry, enterprise or progress. Their worst 
foe is the “fire water,” to which the red man has everywhere a fatal 
proclivity, and which unprincipled whites are but too ready to furnish 
him. Some years ago an act was procured to be passed authorizing the 
Indian occupants of a reservation in Erie County to sell, provided a 
majority should consent. The speculators who stood ready to pur- 
chase induced the tribe to go to Buffalo for negotiation, where they 
plied the poor Indians with rum until, by hook or crook, a sufficient 
number were got to agree. This nefarious fraud was not, however, suc- 
cessful, its character being exposed, and its purpose defeated, after a 
severe struggle, by the friends of the Indians, who refused to remain 
inactive spectators of the swindle. 


DALAL 


BM Cet Te Gent itn | 


PR GRETA a 


nA iy We 
ety 4) 
STOUT ut 
TEs 

? 


ii 
yy 


, ah Bak 


a 
Bail 


PHILIP KENJOCKETY 


“The last of the Neutrals.” 
Mr. Robt. K. Root. Buffalo. See Editorial Notes, Page 313. 


From a painting by Bradish, 1862, owned 


= 


EDITORIAL NOTES 


THE KENJOCKETYS 


On page 14, allusion is made to John Kenjockety. The name, 
in one form or another, is perhaps the oldest designation pertaining 
to the region of Buffalo. If, as students of Indian linguistics 
affirm, it is of the language of the Neutral nation, then it is a 
survival of a tongue spoken hereabouts—around the northern and 
eastern end of Lake Erie—long before it was succeeded by the 
Seneca. The word Erie (which the early French cartographers 
printed with a final accent, as though it were pronounced ‘‘H-ree- 
aye’’) is also of the Neutral or Kah-kwah tongue; but most of our 
local Indian names are Seneca. 

“‘Kenjockety’’ has now became ‘‘Scajaquada,’’ and is the name 
of a stream of some consequence to Buffalo. It helps to beautify 
Forest Lawn, a resting-place for the dead. It feeds Gala Water, 
the lake in Delaware Park, which is indeed but an artificial enlarge- 
ment of its old bed. On the banks of this lake stands the home 
of the Buffalo Historical Society. The lower reaches of the stream, 
and its junction with the Niagara, are rich in historic associations. 
The Battle of Black Rock, in the War of 1812, was fought on its 
banks, and in its waters were fitted out some of the vessels of Perry’s_ 
fleet, that fought and won the Battle of Lake Erie. Surely such 
a stream is deserving of a place and name in local annals. 

The name it surely has, somewhat to excess. In an effort to 
discover what should be the spelling of this word, records and maps) 
of Buffalo, of the earliest days of the village, as well as of later 
years of the city, have been examined, as have also numerous old 
treaties and early printed books. The result of the quest is indi- 
eated by the following list of spellings, all being designations of 
this same stream, now usually written ‘‘Scajaquada:’’ 


Cajaquada Conjockety Scaicuada 
Canjadaqua Conjocquada Seajacquada 
Canjaquadie Conjoequata Scajaqada 
Canjoequadies Conjocquitas Seajaquada 
Congoquakuon Conjoequta Scajaquadda 
Conjacadaqua Conjoquada Scajaquade 
Conjacquities Conj paar Seajaquadies 
Conjadaqua Cunjoquoddy Seajaquadys 
Conjaquada Kaiyoequadies Seajaquoda 
Conjaquadie Kenjockety Scajoquada 
Conjaquadies Konjockety Seajaquaty 
Conjaquadius Scea-dhu-queddy . Seajaquodies 
Conjaquady Scadjaquada Seaj auquada 
Conjaquda Scagaquada Scajaquady 
Conjocadas Seaghtjecitors Scajoquady 


SS ~~ > = is: 


314 EDITORIAL NOTES 


Scajuquadus Schajacquada Scojockquody 
Scajuquda Schajakwatta Scoy 

Seajuquoddy Schajaqaty Scoy-gu-quaides 
Scajuquoddys Schajaquady Skadockquay 
Scaqueada Schajaquadys - Shendyoughgwatte 
Scaughjuhquatty Schajaquater Skajaquadies 
Scaujaewada Schajaquaty Skendyoughgwatti 
Scayuquoddy Scajauquady Sken-dyuh-gwa-dih 
Schadaquaty Schaudaquaty Squajaquady 
Schagadaquaty Schaugadaquaty 

Schajackwady Scoijoiquoides 


Early Buffalo settlers called the stream ‘‘Kenjockety’s creek,’’ 
after an Indian who had his home on its bank east of Niagara 
street. The Senecas called him Sga-dynh’-gwa-dih (according to O. 
H. Marshall), or Sken-dyough-gwat-ti (according to Missionary 
Asher Wright), meaning ‘‘beyond the multitude.’’ Our modern 
spelling appears to be a modification of the Seneca word, rather than 
of the Kah-kwah or Neuter language. All the spellings, obviously, 
are attempts to represent in English the native pronunciation. 

The earliest Kenjockety of whom we have clear record was 
known to Buffalo’s first settlers as John. He claimed, and his 
Indian neighbors acknowledged, that he was no Seneca, but a 
Kah-kwah, his ancestors since 1650-51 presumably having lived with 
their Seneca conquerors. According to John Kenjockety’s son 
Philip, the family, before the American Revolution, lived on Tona- 
wanda island in the Niagara. Later, John lived, as above stated, on 
the bank of the stream that now bears his name. Still later, his 
cabin was opposite Farmer’s Point on Buffalo creek. He was @ 
famous hunter and—after the whites came—a famous drunkard. 
Returning to his cabin, after a fatal visit to Buffalo village, he died 
by the wayside. The date of his burial has been preserved—October 
7, 1808. 

He left at least three sons, Philip, George and Joseph. Philip, 
who was over 20 years of age when his father died, was a familiar 
figure in early Buffalo, and lived to a great age, his death occurring 
April 1, 1866. The Courier at that time said of him: 


The aged Indian Ska-dyoh-gwa-deh, or as he was more 
familiarly known, Philip Kenjockety, died last Sunday afternoon at 
Newtown on the Cattaraugus Reservation. 

Kenjockety was the oldest resident of this region. He came 
to ‘‘Buffalo Creek’’ with the Senecas soon after the Revolutionary 
War, when they were driven from their homes in the Genesee Valley 
by the devastating expedition of General Sullivan. His great- 
grandfather was a member of an almost mythological race—the 
Kah-kwahs, whose rude wigwams, tradition tells us, were once planted 


EDITORIAL NOTES 315 


on the site of our beautiful city. The Kah-kwahs were extermin- 
ated by the more powerful and warlike Senecas about the year 1651, 
and the great-grandfather of Philip, one of the few survivors, was 
adopted into that nation. His grandson, John, acquired great influ- 
ence in the nation, and became a chief. It was through his repre- 
sentation that the Senecas were induced to settle upon the banks of 
the Niagara when driven from the Genesee. When the whites came 
here they found him living near the creek that now bears his name. 
He died in 1808. 


Philip Kenjockety was a person of wonderful vigor, and died 
at a very advanced age. It is generally believed that he was from 
120 to 130 years old, but this estimate is probably incorrect. It is 
impossible to ascertain his exact age, but it is well established that 
he was nearly 100 years old at the time of his death. His mind was 
elear and his memory unusually correct, and much information about 
the Indians as connected with the early history of Buffalo has been 
lately gathered from his lips. With him has passed away one of the 
few remaining links between the past and the present. May his 
spirit find rest in the happy hunting-grounds of his fathers. 


A few incidents regarding Philip Kenjockety have been pre- 
served. One of them, recorded by William C. Bryant, in volume I, 
Buffalo Historical Society Publications, tells how Orlando Allen 
nearly put an end to Philip’s career by bleeding him, in the absence 
of Dr, Chapin, who had been called on for this operation, which was 
popular among the Indians. The mighty hunter nearly died from 
loss of blood, and was laid up in his cabin for three months; but, 
it is recorded, he cherished no resentment against Mr. Allen. 

In June, 1855, Philip Kenjockety was called as a witness in a 
suit before the Circuit Court in Buffalo, concerning the title to lands 
on Buffalo Creek. His testimony as reported in the Buffalo Com- 
mercial of June 20th was picturesque and of some historical value. 
He gave his age as 101 years and said that he was born near Tona- 
wanda ‘‘and lived there till—using his own language—‘he was 
so——high’ raising his hand about three feet from the floor. The first 
war of which he had any recollection was a battle between the 
Cherokees and Senecas near the banks of the Ohio river when he was 
about eight years old. 

‘From his home in Tonawanda he went to Fort George oppo- 
site Fort Niagara and during the Revolution was engaged with the 
British and Senecas against the Americans. The former were 
driven before the Americans, and Conjockety (as the Commercial 
then spelled it) came up and settled at this place below the Salt Lick 
on the Buffalo Creek. He was in the engagement at Little Beards- 
town in 1779, when General Sullivan, after a desperate struggle, 
repulsed the British and Indians. He was also present at the treaty 


316 EDITORIAL NOTES 


of Fort Stanwix on the Mohawk in October, 1784, for the negotia- 
tion of peace. At this treaty were also present Red Jacket and 
Lafayette; the former strenuously opposed burying the hatchet.’’ 
After an allusion to Philip’s success as a hunter in the Allegheny 
region of Western Pennsylvania the Commercial writer adds: 

‘‘This relic of antiquity has been living for a number of years 
on the Cattaraugus Reservation. and is today hale and hearty. His 
eyesight is good, his voice strong and clear for one so old, his form 
but little bent. A few days since he was invited to go into Cole- 
man’s Gallery to look at the excellent portrait of Tommy Jimmy, . 
the celebrated chief of the Senecas, now dead. After looking at the 
picture for a moment, he turned away with the expression, ‘Ugh! 
gone up!’ and left.’’ 

It suffices merely to call attention to an obvious error in the 
above statement: There was no ‘‘Fort George opposite Fort 
Niagara’’ during the Revolution; neither were there any ‘‘ Ameri- 
cans’’ who contended with the British on the Niagara, as is here 
made to appear. There is confusion here with incidents of the 
War of 1812. 

For further statements regarding Kenjockety, the philology of 
the name, ete., the reader is referred to O. H. Marshall’s paper, 
‘“‘The Niagara Frontier,’’ Vol. II., Buffalo Historical Society 
Publications. 

A writer whose identity is concealed rather than revealed by the — 
signature ‘‘C,’’ in the Commercial Advertiser of March 23, 1861, 
relates that among the customers of Alexander Douglas, Senior, a 
well-known trader of early days who lived at the village of Fort Drie, 
were the family ‘‘Skandauchguaty, now ordinarily written Con- 
jaquady.’’ ‘‘ That the Skandauchguatys,’’ he says, ‘‘ were not only 
of one of the first families of Buffalo, but people of good repute, 
seems manifest from their ability to contract monetary obligations, 
the date of which proves my first proposition.’? He then submits 
copies of several ‘‘notes of hand,’’ written in duplicate; that is, by 
the merchant, Alexander Douglas, in plain English, also in Indian 
cypher. ‘‘In the signature both united, the merchant by writing the 
name of the payee, the Skandauchguaty by making his mark between 
the Christian and the surname (if the reader will permit me to sup- 
pose an unbaptised aborigine had a Christian name).’’ 

In illustration the following notes were shown: 


Good to Alex. Douglas or order for Twenty-four Dollars and a 
half, for value received. 
his 
Jack X SKANDAUCHGUATY. 
Bertie, April 18, 1808. mark 


EDITORIAL NOTES 317 


Good to Alexr. Douglas or order for Three Dollars and a half, 
for value received. 
his 
JOSEPH X SKANDAUCHGUATY. 
Oct. 31st, 1807. mark 


Good to Alexr. Douglas or order for Ten Dollars and a half, for 
value received. 
his 
GEORGE X SKANDAUCHGUATY. 
mark 
Bertie, July 8th, 1807. 


Good to Alexr. Douglas or order for Twenty-three Dollars Six 
Shillings and Six Pence New York currency, for value received. 
his 
PHILIrp X SKANDAUCHGUATY. 


mark 
October 17th, 1807. 


An odd feature of these notes is that each: was marked with a 
circle, like the letter ‘‘O,’’ for each dollar, with a straight line for 
each shilling and a shorter line for each sixpence; when partial 
payment was made—not on the above notes, but on similar notes by 
other Indians—endorsement was made by drawing a line through 
the dollar, shilling or sixpence symbol on the face of the note. The 
facetious author of the article here summarized adds: 

“*T carefully scrutinized the above evidences of debt, hoping to 
discover that forgetting to pay was not one of the early customs 
of the First Families of Buffalo, but no endorsement appears. On 
the other hand, by a memorandum upon one of them I discover Philip 
was in sufficiently good repute, as late as 1809, to obtain additional 
eredit for ‘six shillings’ worth of cloth, one shilling’s worth of 
tobacco, and twenty-seven shillings’ worth of blanket’ and then tried 
the experiment of repudiation; thus Pennsylvania and Mississippi 
are only imitators of a custom established by one of our First 
Families. ’’ 


WAS THE SLOCUM CAPTIVE A PARKER ANCESTOR? 
(Chapter II, page 21.) 

The problem of the blood ancestry of the Parker family is 
rendered difficult in the face of the tradition of Frances Slocum, 
a Quaker girl carried into captivity by Indians in 1778. In the 
family traditions there is reference to the mother of William, who 


318 EDITORIAL NOTES 


it is said was the daughter of the captive Slocum woman. The 
members of the family are by no means agreed upon this, however, 
for William’s mother is also referred to as an Indian woman who 
had lived at Allegany and who with her boys followed Handsome 
Lake in his flight to Tonawanda. 

General Parker under date of September 5th, 1891, left a 
Memorandum concerning the tradition of the Slocum woman as 
follows: 


‘Samuel and William Parker with their mother came with 
Handsome Lake, when Cornplanter drove him away from Allegany, 
to Tonawanda, from which point he continued to disseminate the 
moral code he was receiving from the agents of the Great Spirit. 
(It is also said that there was another Parker brother, making three 
who came to Tonawanda, who was accidentally killed by the falling 
of a tree upon him.) The mother was the daughter of a captive 
woman whose family name was Slocum, and which family resided 
somewhere in Pennsylvania. The Parkers’ mother was subsequently 
returned to her family in Pennsylvania by a Quaker named Jacobs, 
who was in some way connected with the Quaker Indian school 
established at an early day on or adjoining the Allegany Indian 
Reservation. The Parkers’ mother was the offspring of the Slocum 
woman and a French officer at Fort Niagara where her Indian 
relatives had taken her on some of their trading expeditions. The 
Slocum woman did not want to leave her French husband when the 
Indians were ready to leave but her Indian relatives compelled 
her to return with them to Allegany and there the Parker 
mother was born. This child the mother took with her when she 
escaped down the Allegheny river from the Indians with Jacobs, but 
her two Indian uncles pursued her in their canoe and overtook them 
ere nightfall. They took the child back with them but permitted 
the Slocum woman to return to her white relatives. The child grew 
up among the Indians and became the Parkers’ mother. She died 
at Tonawanda somewhere between 1820 and 1825. Her issue was 
three sons and two daughters, all of whom are now dead. William 
Parker my father, died in April, 1864 (when I was at Culpeper 
Court House with Grant during the war of the Rebellion). I judge 
that his age must have been about 75. He was in the War of 1812 
and was wounded in the Battle of Chippewa near Niagara Falls. 
His brother Samuel died in 1879 or 1880 and was aged about 90 
years, ”’ 

If this account is true and the child of the Slocum captive 
was indeed the grandmother of Ely S. Parker, he then was three 
quarters Seneca and one quarter French and English. This facet 


EDITORIAL NOTES 319 


would have made William and Samuel Parker ineligible to hold 
sachemships in the tribal organization, sinee descent is through the 
mother and the sachemships deseend through the mother. How- 
ever, we find that in spite of this or perhaps because there was no 
maternal white ancestor, Samuel Parker did become a sachem and 
a tribal chief of the Tonawanda band. 


Colonel Parker’s disappearance on the eve of his marriage 
occasioned many fantastic tales in the press. A Washington corre- 
spondent of the New York Tribune gave wide currency to the fiction 
that Colonel Parker dodged the proposed marriage because he already 
had an Indian wife and children. This being reprinted in the Buffalo 
Commercial of Dec. 19, 1867, drew forth an indignant denial by 
‘“W. K.,’’ whose letter, printed in the Commercial of Dec. 26, 1867, 
quoted the Rev. Asher Wright: ‘‘I have been acquainted with 
Colonel Parker from his boyhood, and the singular persistency with 
which he has avoided every implication of matrimony among his 
own people, has won my unqualified admiration. . . . His 
‘Indian family’ is a pure invention.’? The same writer undertook to 
trace Col. Parker’s ancestry, as follows: 


The family of Colonel Parker had its origin in the connection 
of a French officer who was stationed at Fort DuQuesne [!] when that 
post was occupied by the French, with a Seneca woman. The 
offspring of this connection was a daughter. On the withdrawal 
of the officer from that post, he wanted to take the child with him; 
of course this was strenuously objected to by the mother, and by the 
advice and through the assistance of her friends and family, she 
started with her child for the home of her parents, which was then 
on the Ohio river. The officer becoming aware of the flight of the 
mother with her child, sent a squad of soldiers in pursuit. They 
followed with such vigor, that the fear of being overtaken prompted 
the mother to commit the child to an Indian runner, who with the 
child bound to his back, took the direction through the unbroken 
forest to the principal town of the Senecas, then at Chen-is-se-o 
(Genesee river). He arrived im safety with the child, where in due 
time it was joined by the mother. The child grew to be a very 
beautiful girlk She was either the grandmother, or great-grand- 
mother of Col. Parker. 


In regarding Frances Slocum ‘‘and a French officer at Fort 
Niagara’’ as his possible ancestors, General Parker was obviously 
repeating an utterly impossible story, since there were no French 
officers at Fort Niagara after 1759, or Fort DuQuesne either, and 
Frances Slocum was not born until April, 1774. She was four years 
and seven months old when carried off from her Wyoming-valley home 
by Delaware Indians, November, 1778. But on these and other points 
bearing on our subject, see Buffalo Historical Society Publications, 


320 EDITORIAL NOTES ~ 


Vol. IX, pp. 291-293 ; also, ‘‘ Frances Slocum, the lost sister of Wyom- 
ing,’’ by her grand-niece Martha Bennett Phelps. (N. Y¥. 1905.) 
It may be noted here that General Parker’s Autobiography (Pub- 
lications, Buf. Hist. Soc’y, Vol. VIII, p. 528) says he ‘‘ was born 
of poor but honest Indian parents.’’ 


‘*A PROPHECY FULFILLED.’’ 
(Chapter IV, page 48.) 


The prophecy referred to in the text, page 48, was written down 
by Harriet Maxwell Converse, who had the facts from Tonawanda 
Indians. In substance it is as follows: 

About four months previous to the birth of her son Ely, Mrs. 
Parker entered the Council House near Indian Falls, then on the 
Tonawanda Reservation near Batavia, and placed herself before the 
national prophet as a candidate for a mystery interpretation. She 
related that a strange vision had been shown to her in a dream. 
She was in Buffalo near the Granger farm in the winter, and a 
heavy snow was falling. Suddenly the sky opened, the clouds were 
swept back by an invisible hand and she beheld a rainbow that 
reached from the Reservation to the Granger farm, when it was 
suddenly broken in the middle of the sky. From the lower side of 
the rainbow were strange pictures, which she recognized as resembling 
the signs over the little shops in Buffalo. Of course she could not 
read, but she noticed the characteristics of the English alphabet. 
The dream troubled her, and she was restless until she had con- 
sulted the prophet, who said to her: ‘‘A son will be born to you 
who will be distinguished among his nation as a peace-maker; he 
will become a white man as well as an Indian, with great learning; 
he will be a warrior for the pale-faces; he will be a wise white man, 
but will never desert his Indian people nor lay down his horns- 
(his title as sachem) as a great Iroquois chief; his name will reach 
from the east to the west, the north to the south, as great among 
his Indian family and the pale-faces. His sun will rise on Indian 
land and set on the white man’s land. Yet the ancient land of his 
ancestors will fold him in death.’’ 


GENERAL PARKER’S NAME 


Mrs. Merton M. Wilner of Buffalo, a great-granddaughter of Rev. 
Ely Stone, some years since made inquiry of General Parker regarding 
his name. He sent to her the following reply: 


“S881 ‘OV0UT ; "G88T ‘OJON 
“quesve[dqunoyy uyor Jo ofIM pue ‘toyed “G A[W JO aaqSIG “SBLOIBOSNT, OY} JO JoryD [ediountd oy, 


LINVSVHIGALNNOW YAWaVd ANITOUVO LNVSVHIdLNOOW NHOL 


EDITORIAL NOTES 321 


New Yorks, May 28, 1895. 
Mas. Epira L. Witner, Buffalo, N. Y. 


Dean Mapam:—I take pleasure in acknowledging yours of the 9th 
inst. Yes, I remember the Rev. Ely Stone very well = 4 Baptist clergy- 
man connected with the Indian Mission School once in operation adjoin- 
ing the Tonawanda Indian Reservation. I was very young when placed 
at this school, and it was said that I was named after this clergyman. 
My father’s name being “Parker,” I subsequently added that of 
“Parker” to my name, and have borne it through life. 

I am with respect, 

Your Obdt. Serv’t, 
Ety S. Parxer. 


THE MOUNTPLEASANTS 


The Mountpleasant family has long been prominent in Western 
New York; indeed, no name among the Tuscaroras is more distinguished. 

The earliest of whom we have information was John Mountpleasant, 
not an Indian but an Englishman, a captain in the British army during 
the Revolutionary War. He married an Oneida woman and was sta- 
tioned at Fort Mackinac when his son was born in 1779. In 1781, the 
family came to the Niagara frontier, where Captain John is said to have 
been in command for a time at Fort Niagara. No official record of 
this is found. Later he was ordered to Montreal, and never returned 
to the Niagara. He is supposed to have been killed. 

His son, John Mountpleasant 2d, also known as captain, served in 
the War of 1812—it is said he was with the British at Queenston Heights 
—mazrried Sally Jack, 2 Tuscarora woman, and died in 1854. 

His son, John Mountpleasant 3d, whose portrait we publish, was 
born in 1810 on the Tuscarora reservation. In 1827 he was elected 
a chief. In 1831 he married Jane Green, a daughter of his tribe. She 
dying, he took for second wife in 1864, the Seneca girl, Caroline G. 
Parker, sister of Ely S. Parker. Chief Mountpleasant, though of mixed 
ancestry, was representative of the best qualities of the English and 
the Indian. Thrifty, energetic and upright, he was held in high respect, 
He became a trustee of the Thomas Indian Orphan Asylum, and was 
a member of the Buffalo Historical Society. He owned a large farm, 
was noted for his hospitality and did much to elevate the standard of 
living among the Tuscaroras. He died May 6, 1887. 

Caroline Parker Mountpleasant, who survived him, was the only 
girl in a family of eight children. Our author’s narrative has delight- 
fully pictured the home conditions of this remarkable family. Caroline 
was educated at the Normal Academy at Albany, and after her mar- 
riage with Chief Mountpleasant removed to his home on the Tuscarora 
reservation, where she continued to reside until her death, March 19, 


322 EDITORIAL NOTES 


1892. In a sketch written shortly after her death by her friend, Mrs. 
Harriet Maxwell Converse, we read: 

“The late Mrs. Mountpleasant, often called ‘the Queen of the Tus- 
caroras’—a title which she amiably ignored—was a woman of com- 
manding A ientson's and markedly typed as an Indian, rather inclined 
to their inherent haughtiness, which, though repellent to the impertinent 
intrusions of strangers, softened down to true hospitality and affec- 
tionate kindness to those who were her proven friends. With the self- 
sustained dignity which harmonized with the loftiness of her character, 
there was an undercurrent of the very simplicity of gentleness in her 
friendship, the rarity of which only those whose privilege it was to 
know her well, could understand. 

“She was gifted with a keenness of intuition that rendered her an 
invaluable aid to her husband in his national affairs, and though she 
never interfered with the politics or governmental authority of the 
Tuscaroras save by a continual and firm opposition to severalty of 
lands, which she feared would be unjustly divided. her influence was 
more widely felt and powerful by reason of her moral example and 
charitable loyalty to her people. . . As a hostess her demeanor was the 
same whether entertaining ‘peer or commoner,’ by reason of a gentle 
courtesy ‘to the manner born,’ Flattery nor fulsome adulation could 
disturb the steady poise of her mind nor degenerate it into forgetfulness 
of her birth-pride of station as a representative of the American Indians. 
. . . It has been said that Mrs. Mountpleasant was ‘the most re- 
markable woman of the Iroquois Indians.’ No loftier praise could be 
rendered her and no kinder eulogy pronounced to her memory.” 

In September, 1891, while visiting her former home in the Tona- 
wanda reservation, she was stricken with paralysis, and here, after a 
long illness, she died. And now comes in an interesting reminder of 
ancient tribal customs. At her death a delegation of leading men of 
the Tuscaroras visited the Tonawandas (who are Senecas) and requested 
the honor of her remains, that they might convey them to their own 
reservation; but as by the law of the Tuscaroras, who still hold the 
tribal rule, the clans are not permitted to be separated even by burial, 
she could not lie by the side of her late husband, who was a member of 
the Bear clan of the Tuscaroras. Her relatives of the Wolf clan of the 
Senecas decided it was the wisest and kindest course that she should 
rest by the side of her father and mother, and so it was. 

The present editor may be permitted a brief allusion to his own 
slight acquaintance with this remarkable woman. On the occasion of 
his own adoption into the Seneca nation, as a member of the Snipe clan, 
Mrs. Mountpleasant shared in the ceremony, and at its close pinned 
upon his coat the ancient silver brooch which was a symbol of his new 
relationship. 

Three ways of spelling the family name occur with perhaps equal 
frequency: Mt. Pleasant, Mount Pleasant and Mountpleasant. The 


last is preferred. 


EDITORIAL NOTES 323 


MRS. HARRIET MAXWELL CONVERSE 


Our readers may welcome some further introduction to Mrs. Harriet 
Maxwell Converse, with whom General Parker maintained an inter- 
esting correspondence for some years, as set forth in Chapter 15 of Mr. 
Parker’s narrative. 

People who casually met Mrs. Converse and knew of her devotion 
to the welfare of the Indians, often asked if she were not in part of 
Indian blood. There was little or nothing in her personal appearance 
to warrant the question, but there was some warrant for it in the 
peculiar relations of her family to the Indians of Western New York for 
three generations. Her great-grandfather, Guy Maxwell, came from 
Scotland in 1768 and settled at Martinsburg, Va.; her grandfather, of 
the same name, came from Virginia into Western New York in 1792. 
He was an Indian trader and so won the friendship of the Indians that 
they adopted him. His son, Thomas Maxwell, also an Indian trader, 
was in turn adopted by the Senecas. Thomas was the father of Har- 
riet, whose mother died early, and Harriet went to live with an aunt 
at Milan, Ohio, where she attended for a time at the same school as did 
Thomas Edison. In 1861, she married Franklin Converse of Westfield, 
Mass., @ musician. 

Mrs. Converse inherited from her father a considerable fortune and 
for some years Mr. and Mrs. Converse traveled widely in this country 
and abroad, and Mrs. Converse devoted herself largely to literary work. 
Of a poetic temperament, she wrote and published a volume or two of 
verse and was a welcome contributor to numerous periodicals. Her 
sympathetic interest becoming aroused in the welfare of the Indians, 
to whom she had naturally been a friend by reason of the peculiar rela- 
tions of her father and grandfather, she devoted most of her time and 
energy in later life to studying the condition of the Reservation Indians, 
in working in their behalf, and in writing. She was especially active 
in opposition to the Whipple bill, the enactment of which was urged in 
1891. This measure contemplated the bestowal of full citizenship on 
the Indians, which in the judgment of many friends of the Indians 
meant the abandonment of the reservation system, thus placing the 
unsophisticated Indian at the mercy of the land sharks and others who 
ever stood ready to despoil them regardless of justice. The Whipple 
bill was defeated and in recognition of her work and of her genuine 
friendship, she was adopted a member of the Seneca Nation. The fol- 
lowing year she received the unique honor of being made a chief. This 
occurred at a ceremony known as the Condolence, held on the Tona- 
wanda Reservation, September, 1891. From that time till her death, 
she was recognized by the Senecas and by the other tribes of the Six 
Nations as a fully qualified chief, authorized to look after the welfare 


324 EDITORIAL NOTES 


of her adopted people. She was given the name of Gaiiwanoh, ‘“The 
Watcher.” 


She was early led into an intimate acquaintance with General 
Parker, and it was in recognition of her published writings in behalf of 
his people that he sent her the following letter, the original of which 
is owned by the Buffalo Historical Society: 


FaIrFieLp, Conn., Jan’y 18, 1895. 


. ... Lhave enjoyed reading these articles very much, because they 
are written by one who has been much among them, knows their politi- 
cal and social organizations, understands their civil polity and religious 
beliefs and customs and can give correct dates of events. Having also 
been adopted and honored as chief by the people she writes about, 
and having been initiated by them into some of their ancient and mys- 
terious ceremonies, enables her to give authority to her statements 
which no other writer can do. I am delighted that this talented person 
has the spirit, inclination and willingness to give her information to 
the general public, who I hope will appreciate her praiseworthy efforts. 


Ety S. Parker, 
To “Tue Snipe,” N. Y. Troquois Sachem. 


Mrs. Converse improved her opportunities both in Western New 
York and among the Grand River Indians in Canada, to collect wam- 
pum belts and other articles, now for the most part rare, illustrative of 
Indian life. Ultimately most of her collections, including the very valu- . 
able wampum, became the property of the State and are preserved in the 
State Museum at Albany. 


When the Vreeland bill, which was so drawn as to force the Senecas 
to pay $3,000,000 for the extinguishment of the claim of the Ogden 
Land Company to their lands, was pending in Congress, Mrs. Converse 
wrote many able letters in opposition. These appeared in leading 
newspapers and were in some degree influential in the final defeat of 
the bill. 


Mrs. Converse died at her home in New York City, November 18, 
1903, a few weeks after the death of her husband. Her work entitles 
her memory to be preserved with that of two other American women 
noted for their interest in the Indian and devotion to his welfare. One 
of these, Mrs. Erminie A. Smith of Jersey City, noted for her researches 
in Indian languages, in the service of the United States Bureau of Eth- 
nology, was adopted a member of the Tuscarora Nation. Mrs. Helen 
Hunt Jackson, whose tale of ‘“Ramona’”’ and whose historical work “A 
Century of Dishonor,” made her famous the world over, is the third of 
this trio of American women, whom history will remember for their 
devotion to the cause of the Indian. 


EDITORIAL NOTES 325 


“THE TRIAL OF RED JACKET” 


Allusion has been made in the foregoing narrative to the so-called 
trial of Red Jacket. The incident took place in 1802, on the banks of 
Buffalo Creek, the site, altered beyond any possible recognition, having 
been long included within the city limits of Buffalo. Fortunately, the 
scene has been perpetuated by a painting of great historical value, the 
work of James M. Stanley. This artist, born in Canandaigua, Jan. 17, 
1814, spent his boyhood in Buffalo, and knew Red Jacket and the vicin- 
ity of Buffalo Creek when it still retained a primeval character. Stanley 
early devoted himself to art, for at twenty-one he was painting portraits 
in Detroit, having removed to Michigan in 1834. In 1837 he made 
Chicago his home, then removed to Galena, Ill., and in the years that 
followed roamed far and wide, devoting himself chiefly to his chosen 
subject of Indian portraiture. We find him at Fort Snelling, Minn., at 
that time a resort for many Western tribes. After a period during which 
he followed his profession in New York City, Baltimore, Philadelphia, 
Troy and perhaps other eastern cities, he set out in 1842 on a long tour 
of the wild regions beyond the Mississippi. At Fort Gibson, Arkansas, 
in Texas and New Mexico, he painted portraits of chiefs and warriors in 
full costume. He was attached to the Kearney and Emory expeditions 
across the Rocky Mountains, and after doing much important work for 
the Government, especially in California, visited Oregon, sketching 
native types and scenery, especially in the region of the upper Columbia. 
After a year in the Sandwich Islands, he returned to Washington, where 
he resided and worked from 1851 to 1863, after which he made Detroit 
his permanent home. 

During his Washington residence he completed one hundred and 
fifty-two portraits, many of them life size, of the leading men of forty- 
two tribes. By travel and residence among them he had made himself 
beyond question a high authority on Indian life and character. This 
splendid collection, of inestimable value, was placed in the Smithsonian 
Institution, where, in 1865, it was totally destroyed by fire. 

Mr. Stanley had collected for the Government a large quantity of 
relics and curiosities, articles illustrating aboriginal life, but the greater 
part of them were lost in transportation at sea. 

In his later years he painted portraits of many prominent men, and 
was one of the founders of a gallery of paintings which was later ac- 
quired by the city of Detroit. He died in that city of heart disease, 
April 10, 1872. 

The most important example of his work now in existence is his 
“Trial of Red Jacket”. It is owned by his family, which, it is reported, 
has valued it at $30,000. For some years it has hung in the Historical 


326 EDITORIAL NOTES 


Building at Buffalo. The canvas, five feet ten inches high by nine 
feet two inches wide, contains the portraits of seventy-two Indians, 
with the costumes and ornaments of their time, shown in the various 
attitudes which characterize Indians in council. Among the figures 
towards the rear of the group appears a white man, said to be the 
missionary, Samuel Kirkland. In the background, under great bass- 
woods, winds the placid Buffalo Creek. 

A reproduction of this picture, fairly satisfactory, considering the 
great reduction in size, is herewith presented. Modern artists seldom 
paint in the minute, studied manner of this canvas, a chief value of 
which is the almost photographic record which it presents of Seneca 
costume, ornament and physiognomy. 

The historical incident upon which the artist has founded his pic- 
ture, is as follows: Cornplanter, the Chief of the Six Nations, had 
become jealous of the rising popularity of Red Jacket, and determined 
to destroy him. For this purpose he consulted with his brother, The 
Prophet, and the two fabricated charges of sorcery—a deadly sin with 
the Indians—against Red Jacket. ‘The scene represented by the artist 
is the trial of the great chief upon those charges. Cornplanter is 
the principal figure seated at the right. Handsome Lake stands at the 
extreme left. Red Jacket is represented as standing in the midst of the 
council, in the act of delivering his great speech of three hours in his 
own defence. The artist paints him as turning towards Handsome Lake, 
with an expression of scorn and contempt, accusing him of aiming a 
blow at him in the dark, when he had not the manhood to meet him 
face to face. 


The defence was so full and complete that the council at once dis- 
missed the charges, repudiated Cornplanter’s claims, and restored Red 
Jacket to his wonted position as a pinetree chief of the Six Nations. 


THE RED JACKET MEDAL 


Ely S. Parker was the last grand sachem of the Iroquois to own 
the so-called Red Jacket medal. It was owned successively by Red 
Jacket, who received it from President Washington in 1792; by James 
Johnson, Red Jacket’s nephew, whose Seneca name was Sosawah; and 
after his death, by Ely S. Parker. After General Parker’s death the 
Buffalo Historical Society bought the medal from his widow, and now 
holds it. Its actual ownership has been claimed by the Seneca nation, 
but at the time of purchase that people formally expressed the wish 
that the medal should be kept by the Buffalo Historical Society. 


It is one of the earliest American historical medals, and, for its 
history, one of the most valuable. Other medals resembling it are in 


'GZe ade ‘SOJON [BILOJIpPHT 00g 


AWINV.LS AM@ ONILNIVd CHL WOW «\LAMOVE AAU TO IVIML AEL,, 


EDITORIAL NOTES 327 


existence, and their possessors have from time to time claimed to have 
the original Red Jacket medal. These claims would not have been so 
strenuously asserted, in countless newspaper letters, had the writers 
been in possession of the facts, 2 summary of which follows. 

Several medals of similar type were made at the United States 
Mint, under the direction of Dr. David Rittenhouse, from 1792 to 1795. 
One of them, closely resembling the Red Jacket medal, is dated 1793. 
As these medals were not struck, but engraved—and much of the 
engraving is light scratching, on thin silver—even a casual examination 
discovers individual differences. 

The obverse (pictured herewith), shows Washington in uniform, 
bareheaded, facing to the right, presenting a pipe to an Indian chief, 
who smokes it; the Indian is standing and has a large medal suspended 
from his neck. On the left is a pine tree, at its foot a tomahawk; in 
the background a farmer plowing. Below is engraved: George Wash- 
ington, President, 1792. The reverse shows the arms and crest of the 
United States on the breast of an eagle, which holds an olive branch in 
its right talon, a sheaf of arrows in its left, and in its beak a ribbon with 
the motto, EH Pluribus Unum; above, a glory breaking through clouds 
surrounded by thirteen stars. The medal is oval, six and three fourths 
by five inches, with raised rim and ring at top. 

At the Greenville treaty of 1795, between the United States and 
representatives of the Hurons, Delawares and other tribes, medals 
were given to the Indian signers which are facsimiles of the Red Jacket 
medal, with the date changed to 1795. 

For an account of the conference in Philadelphia, March-April, 
1792, at which the medal was presented to Red Jacket, the reader is 
referred to Stone’s “Life and Times of Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket,” 
chapter four. Several other medals like it were presented, it is under- 
stood, to other Indians in 1792 and 1793. 

Tt would be interesting to learn their present whereabouts. The 
Historical Society of Pennsylvania has two—ihe Washington, 1793, and 
the Greenville, Aug. 2, 1795. Another is owned by the Red Jacket 
Club of Canandaigua. The late George H. Harris of Rochester, in a 
letter to Hon. George S. Conover of Geneva, January 11, 1893, under- 
took to trace the history of that medal, and stated in substance that 
after the death of the original Indian owner—whose name is not given— 
the medal came into the keeping of Jasper Parrish, interpreter and 
government agent. He is said to have received it from Red Jacket, to 
whom it was delivered, after the death of the original owner, with a 
request that it be returned to the United States Government. In pass- 
ing it on to Jasper Parrish, who was a representative of the government, 
Red Jacket very likely believed he was fulfilling the request. This is 
supposed to be the medal now in the keeping of the Red Jacket Club. 


328 EDITORIAL NOTES 


Soon after that club acquired it, when its history was under discussion 
General Parker addressed the following letter to his friend, Mr. Con- 
over, widely known for his researches in New York State history. 


New York, March 9, ’91. 
Geo. S. Conover, Esq., 


Geneva, N. Y. 


Dear Sir:—Permit me to thank you sincerely and heartily for your 
able circular and letter, dated February, 1891, on the Washington Red 
Jacket Medal. 

It seems that your article was written in consequence of a medal 
purporting to have belonged to the famous Indian orator having been 
presented to the Red Jacket Club at Canandaigua by Mrs. Thomas 
Francis Meagher, a grand-daughter of Capt. Jasper Parrish of Canan- 
daigua, whilom interpreter for the Seneca Indians. 

I saw this medal during its exhibition a short time ago at Tiffany & 
Co.’s jewelry store on Union Square in this city. It was labelled ‘The 
Red Jacket Medal.” I took pains to assure Tiffany’s people that it was 
not a Red Jacket Medal, nor the one he wore throughout his life, and 
at the same time showed them the genuine medal which is in my pos- 
session. I also took an early opportunity of writing to the Hon. Thos. 
Howell of Canandaigua about it, and gave it as my firm conviction 
that Red Jacket never wore, or owned, this medal. It is, however, a 
genuine Washington Indian medal, shaped and inscribed on both sides 
like mine, with same date, viz.: 1792. Its longest diameter is about five 
inches, mine is seven inches. I suggested to Mr. Howell that it would 
be well to advise the Club of the preceding facts. Whether he has 
done so or not, I am unable to say. 

Perhaps it would be well for history if this medal question should 
now be definitely settled. But how can this be done? It is almost a 
century since these medals were given, and I believe nearly all of the 
present possessors of the Washington Indian medals have begun to 
trace their ownership back to Red Jacket. Besides mine and this one 
at Canandaigua, I hear of one being in some collection at Albany, 
another in the collection of the Pennsylvania Historical Society at 
Philadelphia, and still another in Texas. 

At Red Jacket’s death, in accordance with Indian custom, my 
medal was given by his relations, in the distribution of his personal 
effects, to one James Johnson, a favorite nephew of his, and at that 
time a young and promising chief. Johnson retained it about twenty 
years, and at my installation as leading Sachem of the Iroquois Con- 
federacy in 1851, I was formally invested with it by the master of cere- 
monies placing it about my neck, the speaker remarking the fact that 
it was given by the great Washington to my tribal relative, Red Jacket, 
and that it was to be retained and worn as evidence of the bond of per- 
petual peace and friendship established and entered into between the 
people of the United States and the Six Nations of Indians at the time 
of its presentation. There were scores of chiefs and other Indians 
present at this ceremony who personally had known Red Jacket and 
were familiar with the medal, and it is not probable or supposable that 
they all would have been deceived as to its genuineness, or countenanced 
an imposition by having a bogus medal placed about my neck on so 
important an occasion. 


GRORGE WASHINGTON 
PRESIDENT- 


"192 


-* 
— 


“Seagggesaeeeer™ 


THE RED JACKET MEDAL 


Presented by Washington to Red Jacket, 1792. Passed to his nephew, 
Sos-a-wah (James Johnson),and from him to Do-ne-ho-ga-wa (Ely 8. Parker). 
Purchased from Gen. Parker’s widow by the Buffalo Historical Society. See 
Editorial Notes, Page 326. 


EDITORIAL NOTES 329 


I have since met many old settlers of Buffalo and vicinity, among 
whom I will only mention Hon. O. H. Marshall, Orlando Allen, H. B. 
Potter, John Ganson, Benj. Dole, Mr. Sibley, Mr. Turner (author of 
the ‘Holland Land Purchase,”) who have asked me to show them the 
medal, and they have instantly and invariably recognized it as the one 
they had so often seen worn by Red Jacket, and also the bead string by 
which it is suspended. 

_ The Washington medals are all inscribed alike upon both sides, vary- 
ing only in size and date. Mine isa large one and dated 1792—has thir- 
teen stars; the eagle holding thirteen arrows in one claw and an olive 
branch in the other. 

Respectfully yours, etc., 


Exy S. Parksr, 
or Do-ne-ho-ga-wa, Iroquois Sachem. 


Red Jacket’s own medal is said—we know not with what truth— 
to have been more than once put in pawn, or pledge, by him, for drink; 
but at any rate, its whereabouts was not lost sight of, and since the 
great orator’s death its ownership has been as above stated. 

The Cayuga chief, O-ja-geht-ti or Fish Carrier, received a similar 
medal from President Washington. Some thirty years or more ago, a 
number of Cayugas living in Canada employed a Buffalo attorney to 
urge a claim in their behalf for a portion of the annuity granted by the 
United States Government to Cayugas living in the United States. At 
this time they exhibited Fish Carrier’s medal. Its present whereabouts 
have not been inquired into, but it is not unlikely that it is preserved 
on the Grand River reservation in Canada. 

In 1902 the Sons of the Revolution had a reduced reproduction of 
the Red Jacket medal struck in silver. It is oval, four by three inches, 
with raised figures and inscription. ‘The obverse approximates that of 
the original, with the added statement that it was made from the medal 
owned by the Buffalo Historical Society by ‘‘S. of R. 1902’’—Sons of the 
Revolution. The reverse is blank. 


IROQUOIS ADOPTION 


An allusion on page 83 to the Indian ceremony of adoption recalls 
a custom which has existed among the Iroquois from the earliest days, 
and which still exists. There are many references in 17th and 18th 
Century records to the adoption of captives; but this was a genuine 
adoption, and signified permanent inclusion in the tribe and family. 
But even in remote days the complimentary adoption was practiced. 
Notable instances of this, in Western New York history, are the cases 
of the sons of Louis Thomas de Joncaire, an adopted captive; but his 
sons, never captives, were also adopted; so, under the French régime, 
were Chauvignerie, Longueuil, and others. Sir William Johnson was an 
adopted son of the Mohawks, and was raised to a chieftainship. 


330 EDITORIAL NOTES 


In the early days of Buffalo, more than one of her citizens received 
this complimentary expression of confidence and esteem. Among the 
Senecas, it has ever been a proof of friendship and trust extended only 
to those whites whose good-will and help they felt could be counted on. 
Such friends of the Indian as Orlando Allen and Orsamus H. Marshall, 
prominent in the earlier history of Buffalo, were no doubt adopted 
Senecas, though no record of their adoption has been noted. William 
Clement Bryant, a former prominent attorney of Buffalo, and president 
of the Buffalo Historical Society, was so interested in the Indians and 
devoted to their welfare, that he was twice adopted, once by the Senecas, 
and again by the Mohawks. 

Among Buffalonians past and present who have been thus com- 
plimented, note can be made of the following: 

Bryant, Witt1sam CLEmMENtT—Adopted by the Senecas, who gave him 
the name Da-gis-ta-ga-na, “The Burning Fire.’”” The Mohawks 
also adopted him and named him Ky-o-wil-la—its meaning is 
lost. 

Buck, Rev. Witt1am D.—October 16, 1862. Name bestowed, Ski- 
y-uck-di, ““Beyond the Skies.” At this time Mr. Buck was 
pastor of a Seneca mission church on the Cattaraugus Reser- 
vation. ; 

Buck, Emma A., daughter of Rev. Wm. D. Buck, now Mrs. Emma A, 
Rice of Buffalo. She was adopted, same date as her father, by 
a Seneca family which had lost a daughter, and was named 
Go-wah-dox-a, “‘She has departed.” 

Doszins, CHAarLes W.—Date and name not ascertained. 

Kenpauu, Mrs. Apa Davenrort.—At Versailles, 1918. Wolf clan. 
Name: Gos-soh-noh-yah, ‘‘ Resting in the Infinite.” 

MarsHatL, CHartes D.—Data lacking. 

Porter, (GEN.) Peter BurLt.—Was for many years a chief of the 
Senecas by adoption. 

Root, (Grn.) Aprian R.—Data lacking. 

SEVERANCE, FRanK H.—Cattaraugus reservation, June 16, 1890. Snipe 
clan. Name: Dah-di-oh-gwat-hah, “The spreader of news,” in 
allusion to his newspaper work. 

Staptes, Grorce K.—June 22, 1918, at Thomas Orphan Asylum. 
Turtle clan. Name: Ho-don-jai-ey, ‘‘He lifts the earth.” 
Tucker, Grorce L.—June 22, 1918, at Thomas Orphan Asylum. 

Bear clan. Name: Huh-sque-sohn, ‘‘Hatchet-carrier.”’ 

Witson, Cuartes R.—1885; Beaver clan. Name: “Gah-we-sah.” 

Witson, Ropert P.—Data lacking. 


EDITORIAL NOTES 331 


WatkER, (Rt. Rev.) Witt1am D.—(Bishop of Western New York.) 
About 1900. Beaverclan. Name: Hor-sin-i-sas, “‘A hunter for 
names,”’ alluding to his services among the Senecas, the en- 
rollment of names for confirmation, etc. 

Waker, (Mrs.) Witt1am D.—1906, at Brant, on the Cattaraugus 
Reservation. Deer clan. Name: Weh-ooh-gwas, “One who 
gathers flowers from the waters.” 

There are perhaps other residents of Buffalo, who have received 
Indian adoption; but they are not numerous, for the Senecas have 
never cheapened the honor by bestowing it indiscriminately, and many 
years sometimes elapse without the performance of the adoption rites. 

Three persons are always adopted at a time. Sometimes, in com- 
pliment, an Indian name is bestowed; but this is not adoption. The 
ceremony is explained to the writer by a Seneca friend as follows: 

“An Indian friend allows his name to be given to the white. This 
admits to his clan. This part is executed by the mothers of the clan. 
The assemblage is informed of the agreement, whereupon two aged 
Indians take the candidate by the hand and walk with him, followed 
by his clan. The other clans rise and bow in reverence to the Creator, 
with the left hand uplifted, the right hand over the heart. The mothers 
clap hands in cadence with the chant sung by the old men as they lead 
the candidate around the council-fire, the assemblage responding, Hae, 
hae.” This brings out the wholly serious and reverential character of 
the ancient ceremony. As now performed, the details vary according 
to circumstances, but always certain essentials are observed. There is 
always an address given, on the Cattaraugus reservation, in Seneca, 
stating the reasons for adoption in the particular case, the clans and 
persons adopting, and the name to be given; second, the welcome in 
which the candidate is escorted up and down the council-house, or 
before the assemblage, by two chiefs, the chiefs chanting and the people 
responding. A general greeting and exchange of gifts follow. 

In June, 1918, when Messrs. Staples and Tucker, members of the 
Buffalo Historical Society interested in Indian welfare, were adopted, 
the day being rainy, the ceremony was staged in the assembly room at 
the Thomas Indian School; literally “staged,” for under the fertile 
guidance of Mr. Arthur C. Parker, with the assistance of Mr. Clifford 
Shongo, his sister Mrs. Ray Hurd, and others, something of a melo- 
drama was evolved, the Indians appearing in costume and the candi- 
dates narrowly escaping being scalped or burnt at the stake, perils 
which made their ultimate reception all the more cordial. 

Of one phase of the ceremony at her adoption in 1906 Mrs. William 
D. Walker writes to the editor of this volume: ‘After having my 
virtues, accomplishments and qualifications duly extolled by a venerable 
Seneca, in the presence of many Indians and palefaces, an Indian youth 


332 EDITORIAL NOTES 


and maiden dressed in complete and traditional Seneca garb, most 
gracefully and ceremoniously bestowed upon me two baskets of their 
own workmanship, very tastefully filled with flowers. The aforesaid 
orator then welcomed me into the Deer clan, giving me the name of 
Weh-ooh-gwas, meaning, ‘One who gathers flowers from the waters.’ 
Husband and wife may not belong to the same clan, tradition and 
morals forbid. Hence the Bishop belonged to ee Beaver clan and I to 
the clan of the Deer.’ 


In June, 1890, Mr. F. B. Converse, husband of Harriet Maxwell 
Converse, who was then a Seneca chief by adoption, Mr. James Edward 
Kelly, a sculptor at the time engaged on a monument to Red Jacket, 
and the writer, were made adoptive Senecas, at a ceremony held in the 
open air, under the trees of William Jones’s orchard. Here benches were 
set in a great quadrangle, in the midst of which smoked a council-fire. 
At the upper end were musicians and beyond them another fire, over 
which a great kettle of succotash—beans and Tuscarora white corn— 
was boiling. The Indians took seats by clans, the Snipe, the Heron, 
Bear, Deer, etc., by themselves. A great throng of the younger people 
surrounded the central group, and the roadside was filled with wagons 
and carriages. There were several hundred visitors, Indians and whites 
together. 


Among the older Senecas who shared in the exercises were Moses 
Stevenson of Red Jacket’s family; Lester Bishop, a leader among the 
Christians; David Stevens and Truman Halftown, and aged Mrs. 
Hemlock, from Newtown, the so-called Pagan settlement; these old 
people held to the ancient religion of their father, and spoke only 
Seneca. 

It was a privilege to meet, and is now a Ree to recall, these 
“fold heads,”’ survivors of the olden time. One feeble, wrinkled woman 
had known Red Jacket. So had David Stevens, with whom the writer 
spoke, Nicholson Parker acting as interpreter. Stevens was very old in 
1890, the oldest living member of the Wolf clan, which is the head clan 
of the Senecas. In 1848, when these people adopted the republican 
form of government, Stevens “‘lost his horns,’’ that is, his chieftainship, 
was deprived of authority, but he retained to the last the dignity of his 
hereditary office. For many years he had been the ‘‘pagan”’ preacher 
of the tribe, a leader of the non-Christian faction and a sturdy upholder 
even as Red Jacket was, of the tribal traditions and customs; in short a 
fine, upright old conservative. He survived until December, 1899. 

Andrew John, Jr., then President of the Seneca Nation, had come 
from Carrollton on the Allegany reservation. He was one of the most 
successful of Seneca politicians. Of more interest to the writer was 
Nicholson H. Parker, brother of General Ely S. Parker, and his sister 


EDITORIAL NOTES 333 


Mrs. Mountpleasant; the former acted as interpreter; and it was the 
latter who, at the close of the ceremonies, first greeted the writer in 
kinship, and pinned to the lapel of his coat the ancient silver brooch 
which he has cherished nigh 30 years. 

There was music, and an introduction of the candidates by William 
Jones, principal host for the occasion. David Stevens made the speech 
of adoption and bestowed the names of each in turn. Mr. Converse 
became Ha-nai-ne, ‘The Song-maker;” Mr. Kelly, Gah-nos-qua, ‘‘The 
stone giant,” and the writer Dah-di-oh-gwat-hah, “Spreader of News.” 
There was the usual marching up and down; and speeches, songs and 
the exchange of gifts ended only when the succotash was ready and the 
feast began. 

A yet more notable adoption on the Cattaraugus reservation was 
that of June 15, 1885, when a grand council was held, and Mrs. Harriet 
Maxwell Converse, Hon. Frederick H. Furniss of Waterloo, N. Y., and 
George S. Conover of Geneva, N. Y., were received in adoption. Mrs. 
Converse was an author whose father and grandfather had been adopted 
by the Indians; and all were prominent as students of Western New 
York history and friends of the Indian. Mr. Conover has left a graphic 
account of this occasion in his pamphlet entitled: “Geo. S. Conover, 
Genealogical-Biographical,” printed at Geneva in 1885. 

On the general subject of Indian adoption the reader is referred to 
the “Handbook of American Indians,” Bureau of American Ethnol- 
ogy, Bulletin 30, Part I; also, Seaver’s “Life of Mary Jemison,” 20th 
ed., N. Y., 1918, pp. 331-339; and Stone’s “Life and Times of Sir 
William Johnson,” vol. I, appendix 1. 


MR. ARTHUR C. PARKER’S WRITINGS 

Mr. Arthur C. Parker is the author of the following volumes issued 
by the New York State Museum: 

Excavations in an Indian village and burial site at Ripley, Chau- 
tauqua Co., N. Y.—Bulletin 117, 1907. 

Iroquois uses of maize and other food plants.—Bulletin 144, 1910. 

The code of Handsome Lake, the Seneca prophet.—Bulletin 163, 
1912. 

The constitution of the Five Nations.—Bulletin 184, 1916. 

The archaeological history of New York, 1919. 

Mr. Parker edited and annotated Mrs. Harriet Maxwell Converse’s 
“Myths and Legends of the New York State Iroquois,” in New York 
State Museum Bulletin 125, 1908. 

Notes on the bannerstone, with some inquiries as to its purpose, 
Rep. Director of the State Museum, 1918. 


334 EDITORIAL NOTES 


Champlain’s assault on the fortified town of the Oneidas, 1615. 
Rep. Director of the State Museum, 1919. i 

The following list, though incomplete, contains the principal con- 
tributions of Mr. Parker to periodicals and publications of societies: 

Seneca medicine societies—Am. Anthrop. Apr.-June, 1909. 

The Seneca game of snow-snake.—Am. Anthrop. Apr.-June, 1909, 

Iroquois silversmithing—Am. Anthrop. July-Sept., 1909. 

The Iroquois wampums.—Proc. N. Y. State Hist. Assn. Vol. VIII. 
1909. 

Iroquois influence on the archaeology of the Wyoming Valley, Pa.— 
Proc. Wyoming Hist. and Geolog. Soc., 1910. 

Additional notes on Iroquois silversmithing—Am. Anthrop. Apr.- 
June, 1911. 

The league of peace.—Southern Workman, Oct., 1911. 

The progress of the American Indian.—Southern Workman, Nov., 
1912. 

Certain Iroquois tree myths and symbols—Am. Anthrop., Oct.- 
Dec., 1912. 

Iroquois sun myths and ceremonies.—Am. Folk Lore Jour., 1912. 

Squakie hill and the Senecas.—Proc. Livingston Co. Hist. Soc., 1912- 
ret 

The Seneca Indians in the War of 1812.—N. Y. State Hist. Ass’n 
Rept., 1914. 

The social elements of the Indian Problem.—Am. Jour. Sociology 
Sept., 1916. 

The origin of the Iroquois as suggested by their archaeology.—Am. 
Anthrop., Oct.-Dec., 1916. 

The tragedy of the red race.—Quar. Jour. S. A. I., Vol. I, No. 4. 

The legal status of the American Indian.—ZIbid., Vol. II, No. 3. 

The awakened American Indian.—ZIbid., Vol. II, No. 4. 

The elements of the Indian problem.—ZJbid., Vol. III, No. 1. 

The persistence of barbarism in civilized society.—Ibid., Vol. III, 
No. 2. 

Industrial and vocational training in Indian schools.—Ibid., Vol. ITI, 
No. 2. 

Indian progress as shown by the Thirteenth Census.—Ibid., Vol. 
II, No. 2. 

Making Democracy safe for the Indians.—Ibid., Vol. VI, No. 1. 

The Indian, the country and the government.—Am. Ind. Mag., 
Jan.-Mar., 1916. 

Problems of race assimilation in America—Am. Ind. Mag., Oct.- 
Dec., 1916. i 

How flint arrowheads are made——Am. Ind. Mag., July-Sept., 1917. 

The American Indians’ part in the world war.—ZIbid. 

Americans in the Stone Age.—Sitate Service, Oct., 1917. 


EDITORIAL NOTES 335 


A pre-historic Iroquoian site on the Reed farm, Richmond Mills, 
Ontario Co., N. Y.—Researches and Trans., N. Y. S. Arch. Assn., Mor- 
gan Chapter, Rochester, N. Y., 1918. 

Habitat groups in wax and plaster, an address before the Am. Assn. 
Museums.—Museum Work, Vol. 1, No. 3, 1918. 

The New York Indians in the world war.—State Service, Apr., 1919. 

A contact period Seneca site, at Factory Hollow, Ontario Co., 
N. Y.—Researches and Trans. N. Y. S. Arch. Assn., Morgan Chapter, 
Rochester, N. Y., 1919. 

The life of Gen. Ely S. Parker, last grand sachem of the Iroquois.— 
Pubs. Buf. Hist. Soc’y, Vol. XXIII, 1919. 


MEMORANDA 


For an account of the re-burial of General Ely S. Parker, by the 
Buffalo Historical Society, together with several of his letters and an 
autobiographical memoir, the reader is referred to the Publications of 
the Bufialo Historical Society, Vol. VIII, pp. 511-536. 

For General Parker’s address at the Red Jacket commemorative 
exercises, Music Hall, Buffalo, Oct. 9, 1884, see Buffalo Historical 
Society Transactions, Vol. III, pp. 41-44. This volume of Transactions 
is entitled “Red Jacket,’ and is listed as Vol. III of the Publications 
series. 

Errata. P. 96, for “Miner’s Lodge” read “Miners Lodge.” 

P. 106, line 14, for “Then came to me” read ‘‘There came to me.” 

P. 126, line 19, for “Custer in” read ‘‘Custer on.” 


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INDEX 


ABRAMS, Chauncey, 224, 226. 

Adoption, of L. H. Morgan, 81, of 
Buffalo citizens, 329, 330. 

Akron, - —= of Masons, 98, 105. 


Albany Now Normal School, 92. 
° 
BEany State Normal School, 85, 92, 


Races, (see Allegheny). 
Allegheny, 18, 92, 203. 
— Orlando, 315, 329; adoption of, 


Amcha Court House, 125. 

American Board, Mission of, 94. 

Angel and Rice, attorneys, 79. 

Appomattox, 117; river, 119, 120, 122, 
126, 132. 


Army of Northern Virginia, 124; 
broken, 125, 126, 135. 
— Fourth N. Y., 113; Fourth 


Apel bah, (Wi to! a 63; 
68; tragedy of, 69. 
aa Roce, 247, 248. 


BABCOCK, Col. O. E., 128, 129. 
Beek, Mrs. Louise, letter from, 


26: 

Badeau, Col. Adam, 119, 120. 

Baltimore, Henry, 200. 

Baptist Mission School, at Tona- 
wanda, 55, 235. 

Bark houses or cabins, 59. 

Baskets, 234 

Batavia, aoe than Buffalo in 1825, 
50: Lodge, 96, 105. 

Bathing, Indians, 55. 

Battles of Civil War, 185. 

Bekeith, Capt. Samuel H., 109, 143, 

Bible, translated into Seneca, 191. 

Big Fire, murdered, 67. 

Big Tree, raf of, 18. 

Black Hawk, 8 

Black Rock, 33, 34, 308. 

eee, (John), Tonawanda chief, 


peeks Governor, 247. 

Blankets, worn by Indians, 39. 

Board of Indian Commissioners, 150, 
151; — from Commissioner 
Parker, 1 

Bowers, Col. cf S., 110, 121, 129, 131; 


144. 
Boyd, Gen. John N., 32. 
Brady, relates incident, 110. 
Brant, Joseph, 8, 27, 71; leader of 
Troquois, 207, 214. 


British, 24; invade, 28, 35. 


Broadhead, Daniel, 26, 54. 

Brooches, Silver, 56. 

Brothertowns, 71. 

Brown, Arthur, 223. 

Bryant, William Clement, 177, 204; 
letter to E. S. Parker, 204; 207; 
letter from E. S. Parker, 214: 
record by, 315; a oF a 

— Samar A., (Mrs. E foe, 


Buck, Rev. Wm. D., 330. 

Buffalo Creek, 12, 325. 

Buffalo Express, a princes footnote, 48. 

Buffalo Historical iety, villi, 204, 
210, 211; patriotism of, 225, 238, 
315. 316, 319, 321, 329. 

Buffalo reservation, 48, 191, 205; 


Buffalo, ate. of, 13, 14; gore, 15; fears 
= residents, 28; eca council at, 
; battle of, 34; journey to, 50; 
eile Do-sho-wey, 51, 73, 92; in 
Red — time, 203; Indians’ 
cemetery, 203, 205. 
Burial place, of Senecas, 219. 
Butler_< George H., (Col.), 116. 


CABEYO, 147. 


Caswell, Harriet, 90, 300. 

Cattaraugus creek, 192. 

Cattaraugus reservation, 19, 59, 64, 
92, 94, 117, 192, 200, 222, 297, 299, 
302, 314. 

Cayuga Academy, 75; L. H. Morgan 
at, 80 

Cayuga lake, 74. 

Cayuga tribe, win suit, 37; settlement, 
74; treaty with, 7. 5. 


Chatfield, Levi S., 101. 
Chattanooga, 108, 109, 118; letter 


Chesapeake and a Canal, 93. 

Chiefs, repudiated, 9 

Chiefs, Tonawanda, “refuse to sell 
land, 70; repudiated, 93 

Chipman, Gen. N. P. defends Parker, 


304, 306. 
Chippewa, Battle of, 32, 205. 
pewa Indian, 35, 71. 
Chureh of the Epiphany, 145. 
City Point, 114, 115, 116, 119, 136. 
Ci tion, crushes’ iniase, 53; how 
it affects Indians, 1 


340 


Civil War, 7, 99, 105; battles of, 185. 
Clark, Senator Orville, 10. 

Clinton, Gov. George, 14. 

Clothing worn by Iroquois, 38. 
Cloute, Chas., 226. 

Coe, Ce E. he 226. 


Colles, Goal aT 

Colonial Wars, Society ‘of, 225. 

Comanche Jack, 1 

Commissioner of tien Affairs, 150, 
154, 156, 158. 

Comstock, 111. 

Confederates, 120, 123, 127, 128. 

Conover, George S., 327, 328. 

Converse, F. B., 332. 

Converse, Harriet Maxwell, (New 
York literary woman), letter to; 
records, dream of Parker's Mother, 
48; Parker relates incident to, 134; 
letters to from Parker, 164-180; a 
friend of Parker’s, 162; pee of, 
223, 322; Biography of, 3 

Copway, George, 205. 

Cornplanter, Chief, (Gyantwaka), 
speech to Washington, 27, 89; 
tomahawk, 89; petitions Quakers, 
297, 313, 326. 

as Edward, relates legend, 


Cornplanter, Henry, 297. 

Cornplanter’s Town, or ee 
ga,—Burnt Houses), 1 

Cornplanter, Young, 32. 

Corps, army; sixth, 123; fifth, 123,125. 

Capes of Iroquois, 38, not changed, 


Council of Confederacy, Grand, 251. 

Councils of the new Confederacy of 
the Iroquois, founded by Morgan 
and Parker, 80; (see Grand Order of 
the Iroquois). 

Creation myth, 13. 

Cultivators, Nation of, (The Neutrals 
or Attiwandaronks), war with, 46. 

Cummings, Uriah, 63, 66. 

Curtiss, Gen. James E., 226. 

Cusick, David, (a Tuscarora annalist), 


Customs, birth, 55; burial, 59. 


DANCES, 82; Indian, 278-285. 

Darling, Thomas, adopted, 82, 83. 

Dartmouth College, 70. 

De-ka-na-wi-da, (Iroquois culture 
cae 10; wampum codes, 11; laws 
of, 71. 

Dekanesora, 8, 265. 

Delawares, 71, 182. 

Disappearing § ‘Smoke, (Gai-yen-gwa- 

see d Smoke); celebrated 

chief, 21; raid on Wyoming, 21. 

Distinguished men, met by Parker, 77. 

Dobbins, C. W., 

Doctor, Isaac, 189, 226, 231. Y 

Doctor, Laura, (d aughter of Levi 
Parker), viii; i, 224, 226, 231, 232. 

Dolph, John, 6 

Doveieeen a 10, 91, 93, 97, 106; 
name signed to letters, 170-179, 
222, 225. 


INDEX 


Poumaa: Alexander, a merchant, 310. 
rake, 76. 
Dutch, 207. 


EDITORIAL NOTES, 311. 
Elizabeth, grand-daughter of Sos-he- 
o-wa, (see Elizabeth Parker), de- 
scendant of Neutral Captive, 31; 

grand-daughter of Sos-he-o-wa, 41; 
married William Parker, 41; an- 
cestry of, 42, 190, 
ae 1 he Sh 
skawata, the Shawnee pro) intl 25. 
Ely, Christian Ps of fees e Parker, 
ow given, 320. 
English pik 208. 
eo Swart of Huron-Iroquois stock), 
truction of, 17. 
faa. of Parker boys, 76, 86. 
Explorers, 54 
Extermination, with Iroquois meant 
tribal disruption, 13, 14. 


FACE POWDER, 58. 

Farmer's Brother, Col., character 
of, 31, 321, incident of in War of 
1812, 34; mentioned, 260. 

Farwell, undertaker, 205. 

Fearey, Capt. T. H., 226. 

Feast, Seneca, 84. 

Feather, as a head decoration, 58. 

Fire water, 310. 

Fish Carrier, 329. 

Fisher, Rev. J. Emory, 227. 

Five Forks, 122, 124. 

— Lawn Cemetery, 213, 225, 


Fort George, battle of, 32, 34, 315. 

Fort Niagara, 24; battle ‘of, 34 34, 315. 

Fort Stanwix treaty, 27, 311. 

Fraudulent treaty, 301: ‘defeated, 310. 
Teemasonry, (see Masonry) ; Parker’s 
career in, 96. 


GANEODAIJU, (see Handsome Lake 

Ga-nio-dai-u, (a Seneca sachem an 
prophet, see Handsome Lake), 18, 
53, 244, 259. 

Ga-o-no-geh, 16. 

Ga-ont-gwut-twus, (name of Mrs. 

eos es 20; of a noble 
family, 2 

gieeetias ¥ 

Ga-wa-so-wa-neh, 18, 

Genesee country, sale of, 18, 37; a 
garden spot, 40. 

Genesee Valley, 40. 

Geneva’ Historical Society, 218. 

Gettysburg, speech of Parker at, 181; 
battle of, 185 

Gordian Knot, and Order, 80. 

Gorget, 57. 

Government schools, 75. 

Grand Army of the Republic, (see 
also Reno Post), 177, 227. 

Grand Island, 15; British occupy, 28; 
Senecas had inert in defense of, 
30; legend of, 2: 

Grand Lodge of Tilnois, 96. 

Grand Order of the Iroquois, 81. 


INDEX 


ecas, 27. 
Paat By, Fred D., 148; Parker's friend- 
ship for, 222: remarks on Parker, 


Grant, U. S.; Parker’s early acquaint- 
ance with, 96; early army career, 
99; estimated by Parker, 100; called 
“Unconditional Surrender, * 105; 
Parker joins, 107; humanity of, 109: 
saved by Parker, 111; cares for his 
hat, 112; anecdotes of, 113; Parker 
mistaken for, 115; not idol, 118; 
headquarters, 119; men loyal to, 
120; plots against, 120; team play 
of, 123; stops plundering, 124; 
strategy, 125; letter to Lee, 125; 
names peace terms, 126; receives 
Lee’s letter, 128; meets Lee at 
McLean house, 129; terms of sur- 
render, 132; used oval table, 134; 
issued special order on surrender, 
134; order to Meade, 135; anecdote 
of Grant’s smoking, 136; greets Lee, 
138, magnanimity of, 139; parole 
order of, 139; in danger, 142; cam- 
paign for presidency, 147; candidate 
for presidency, 148; "appointed 
Parker Indian Commissioner, 150; 
appointed Board of Indian ‘Com- 
missioners, 151; as strategist, 184. 

Gray Wolf, 63; killed, 64. 

Great Fire, murdered, 63; (Big Fire), 


67. 
Green Bay, tract, 297. 
Greene, Dr. Joseph C., 226. 
Greenville treaty, 327. 
Gregg and Gibson purchase, 296. 
Griswold, Geneva H., viii. 
Ground, Benjamin, 226. 
— George, the American Cadmus, 


HABBERTON, John, (N.Y. Herald 
writer), cited, ship ie! sie: 

Hah-sgwih-sa-ooh, speech by, 

Hairdressing, 55. 

Hale, Berit (writer on Iroquois), 


Handsome Lake, (Ga-nio-dai-u, the 
Peace Prophet), a sachem, 18; a 
prophet, 18; goes on journey, 18; 
Parkers follow, 19; opposition of, 
25; religion of, 53, 202; code of, 251; 
opposed Red Jacket, 202; address 
on, 244; death of, 250. 

Harper's Weekly, 99, 105. 

Harrington, M. Raymond, (anthro- 
peloest) , with author in Oklahoma, 

Harris, George H., 327. 

Ha-sa-no-an-da, Genk name of Ely 
S. Parker), 4, 88 

Hatch, Howard, (a Seneca), 226. 

Hat, Troquois, 38; cap, 5 

Heirlooms of the ‘Troquois, 88. 

Heroes of the Indian-race, 8, 10, 183. 

Hiawatha, 56. 


341 


Hill, Abram, (an Indian), 224. 

Hotchkiss, Wheeler, 205. 

Houghton, Frederick, (teacher and 
fpr eee discovered Neutral 
si 

Hoyt, Martha Ellen, married Nichol- 
son H. Parker, vii, 94, 191. 

Hoyt, = Re of Martha), 200. 

Hudson, P Aide-de-Camp), 123. 

Hunting, 54, 2 

Hurd, Mrs. ee e Maud Shongo), 331. 

Huron-Iroquois, (a linguistic stock), 


Hurons, 12, 13. 
Huyler, Mrs. Martha, contributes to 
Red Jacket fund, 213. 


INDIAN AFFAIRS, 119; corrupt 
administration of, 144. 

Indian Bureau, 150, 305, 308, 309. 

Indian Commissioner, Parker appoint- 
ed, 150; report of, 153, 154, 156; 
President Taft on office of, pe 316. 

Indian Commissioners, Board of, ap- 
pointed, 150; Parker’s letter to, 151; 
mentioned, 307. 

Indian Dances, influence of, 279. 

Indian Department, (see Indian 
Bureau), 154, 307. 

Indian Falls, 51, 315. 

Indian question, 170. 

Indians are different, 51; use of silver 
and gold, 56; women, 58; educated, 
75; grateful, 85; swindled, 151; 
societies, 163; received whites, 183; 
behavior of, 216; character, 267; 
condition anomalous, 310. 

Interior Department, 306. 

Iroquois Agricultural Society, 198. 

Iroquois, allies of British, 11; creation 
myth, 13; assail Neutrals, 13; make 
weapons, 31; in War of 1812, 36, 37; 
costumes, 38; army of, 39; go to 
Canada, 72; Grand Order of, 81; 
maxim of, 160-161; zenith of power, 
a League of, 214, social grades, 

15. 


JACKSON, Helen Hunt, 324. 

James, Army of the, 126. 

Jemison, Alfred, 226. 

Jemison, Mary, (the white captive), 
203; home of, 302. 

Jemison, Thomas, 205. 

Jesuits, 13. 

Ji-gon-sa-seh, (see Ji-kon-sa-seh), 
Parker descendant of, 10, 44, 45; 
captured, 46, 56; mentioned, 304. 

Jimmy, Tommy, (Seneca chief), 311. 

Jo Daviess Chapter, 96. 

John, Andrew, 224. 

Johnson, F. L., 224. _ 

Johnson, Jemmy (or Jimmy, or James, 
see also Sos-he-o-wa), prepares to 
succeed Handsome Lake, 41; adopt- 
ed L. H. Morgan, 81; address of, 
83; fount of knowledge, 87; preach- 
es, 259, 261. 

J = Sir William, 22; adopted 


J spend 18. 


342 


Joncaire, Thomas de, adoption, 329. 
Jo-no-es-sto-wa, (Dragon Fly), Seneca 
name of William Parker, 5. 


KAH-GWA-ONOH, (Kah-kwas, the 
Neutral Nation), the Neutrals, 42, 
Kah-kwah, 12; 309. 

Kanandesaga, (Ga-nun-da-sa-ga), the 
site of Geneva, 22. 

Kansas, lands of Senecas, 144. 

Kelly, James E., (New York sculptor) 
interviewed Parker, 8-9; notes on 
Lee’s surrender, 131, 136, 137; 
adopted, 332. 

Kendall, Mrs. A. D., 330. 

Kenjockety, the name of, 313; family 
of, 314; philology of, 314. 

Kenjockety creek, 14, 313, 314, 

Kenjockety, John, (see Sken-dyuh- 
gwa-dih), story of, 14; death, 14; 
by editor, 314. 

eae cey, Philip, 313; incident of, 

1 


Kennedy, Captain John, 32. 

Kieuneka, (Ga-o-no-geh), Neutral cap- 
ital, 16. 

Kilts, worn by the Senecas, 56. 

King Hendrick, 8. 

King, term wrongly used, 217. 

Kirkland, Rev. Samuel, 14; defended 
by Old Smoke, 22; visits Spirit 
Lake, 59; at trial of Red Jacket, 326. 

Knights Templar, 96. 


LA FORT, Abraham, an Onondaga, 


280. 

La Fort, Daniel, 224. 

Lake Erie, Battle of, 313. 

Lay, Chester, (Seneca sachem), 224. 

Langdon, Andrew, (President of the 
See Historical Society), 225, 

Law, difficult to enforce, 153. 

League of the Iroquois, (or the Five 
Nations, of Iroquois Confederacy 
or The Long House, or the Six 
Nations, etc.); historians of, 11, 29; 
sachems of, 52; re-established, 71; 
fame of, 90. 

League of the Iroquois, a book by L. H. 
Morgan, 81; produced, 88; men- 
tioned by Parker, 214. 

Lee, Gen. Robert E., 110,118; plan to 
trap, 120, 122; hopes of, 125; trap- 
ped, 125; distress of, 126; illogical 
stand of, 126; displayed white flag, 
126; message to Grant, 127; at 
McLean house, 129; surrender of, 
129; Grant’s letter to, 132; reply 
of Grant, 133. 

Legal status of Indians, 151; 153. 

Legend of Grand Island, 238. 

Leggings, style of, 56. 

Letchworth Park, 199. 

Letchworth, William Pryor, dedicated 
Council House, 37. 

Letters of Ely S. Parker, to brother’s 
children, 147; to Indian Commis- 
sioners, 151; to Mrs. H. M. Con- 
verse, 164-179; to Wm. C. Bryant, 
204, 214; to his father, 285; to his 
people, 287; to his sister, 292. 


INDEX 


Little Beard, John, 258. 

Little Beard’s Town, 315. 

Little Billy, address of, 29, 32. 

Little Smoke, ancestor of Parkers, 21; 
fled ee Fort Niagara, 23; character 


of, 23. 

Little Turtle, a Miami chief, 25. 

Lincoln, Abraham, 106, 119, 120, 136; 
assassination of, 142. 

Lloyd, Herbert M., edition of Mor- 
gan’s League, 82; foot note, 82. 

Lockwood, J. T., (a veteran on 
Parker), 113. 

Logan, 81; monument to, 220, 265. 

Logan, Saul, 33 

Longueuil, 329. 

Lookout Mountain, 109, 110, 293. __ 

Long House, (symbolic name of Iro- 
quois League), guard of, 3; extend- 
ed to Lake Erie, 17, 71, 207. 

Loyal Legion, 176, 224, 225, 226. 

Lande Lane; incident in battle, 34, 


MARCUS, H. H., 226. 

Marcus, Maj. L., 226. 

Married women, (Indian), 57. 
Marshall, Charles D., 330. 
Marshall, Col., 129, 130, 132. 
Marshall, Orsamus H., 314, 329, 330. 
Merandale, a lawyer, 287; wisdom of, 
Masonic banquet, 97. 

Masonic Chronicle, quoted, 96. 
Masonia Order, Morgan excitement, 


Masons, 80. 

Massachusetts, claim on N. Y., 296. 

Maxwell, Hon. Thomas, 162, 323. 

McLean house, scene of Lee’s sur- 
render, 129; scene at, 137. 

Meade, Gen., 111, 118, 123, attacks 
Confederates, 127, 128; letter from 
Parker, 135. 

Medal, Red Jacket’s, 211, 326; his- 
tory of, 326-327; letter from E. S. 
Parker, on, 328. 

Medina, 60. i 

Mental Elevator, a missionary publi- 
cation in Seneca, 89 

Miners Lodge, 96. | 

Missionary viewpoint, 85, 86. 

Missionary Ridge, battle of, 109. 

Mission House at Cattaraugus, 192. 

Mississaga, Chippewas, 71. 

Moccasins, of Senecas, 38. 

Mohawks, (see Iroquois). 

Morgan, Lewis Henry, (the anthro- 
pologist), vi; born at Aurora, 75; 
Parker’s acquaintance with, 80; 
began study of Iroquois, 80; adopt- 
ed, 81; writes ‘‘The League of the 
Troquois,”’ 81; called the champion 
of the Iroquois, 81; adoption, 82; 
given wampum belt, 82; read paper 
before N. Y. Historical Society, 86; 
letters on the Iroquois, 86; activi- 
ties for the State Museum, 86; 
gathers collection, 87; produces 
book, 88, 237; witnessed dance, 280. 


INDEX 


Mother of Nations, 45; (see Ji-gon- 
sa-seh). 

Moses, David, 226. 

Moses, Sachem Abram, 224. 

Mound Builders, 15. 

Mountpleasants, The, 321; family of, 
321; spelling of name, 322 

Mounipleasant, Caroline, (see Caro- 
a Parker), 190, 321; death of, 

Mountpleasant, seks 217, 321. 

Murder Creek, 6 

Myrtle, Minnie, fa book, 89. 


NASHVILLE, 110. 

Neuters, (see Neutral Nation), 42. 

Neutral-Erie wars, 14. 

Neutral Nation, domain of, 12; as- 
sailed by Iroquois, 13; tales of, 15; 
village of, 16; descendants inter- 
ested in Grand Island, 30; exter- 
minated, 191. 

New York Historical Society, Morgan 
reads paper before, 86 

Niagara, 12, 40. 

Niagara River, 15, 36; title to bed, 37. 

North, Charles J., 

Nye, Gen. James W., 101. 


O’BAIL, Major Henry, leader in war 
of 1812, 32. 
Ogden, David, 2 
Odgen, Land Cleta, 70, 81, 93, 324. 
em at Company, 203, 205, 295; 
f, 300; accused, 301. 
oid isinoke, ‘(Old King), character of, 


Oneida, women in war, 33; settlement 
in Canada, 72 

On-gweh-o-weh, Iroquois term for 
themselves, 13; story of, 42, 43, 44. 

Onondagas, declare war’ on Great 
Britain, 29, 214. 

Orations of N. H. Parker, 263, 270, 
277, 279. 

Orations of Parker boys, 76. 

Ontario County, 13. 

Ord, Gen, E. O. C., his march, 127. 

Osborn, Kate, 38. 

Osceola, 8 


PAGANISM, 53. 

Parker, origin of name, 21. 

Parker, Albert Henry, (son of Nichol- 
son), 192. 

Parker, Arthur Caswell, vii, viii; 
activities of, ix; address of Hand- 
some Lake, 244; foot note 247, 331; 
writings of, 333 

Parker boys, rearing, 55; school ca- 
reer, 74; opportunities, 76; books 
read by, 76. 

Parker, Caroline, (see Caroline 
Mountpleasant), ix, 48; named Ga- 
hona, 58; at school, 74; "educated in 
Albany, 85; beadwork, 88; surround- 
ings of, 190; death of, 233, ean let- 
ter from Ely, 292; named, 2 

Parker, Elizabeth, (Mrs. William 
Parker), ancestry, 42; beauty of, 
47; vision of, 48; clan of, 48; dress 
of, 55; described old days, 87; 
described, 233; dress of, 235. 


343 


bie ase Ely Samuel, (Do-ne-ho-ga- 
wa), boyhood name, 4; experiences, 
4; origin of Christian name, 5; 
unique character, 7; sachem, 7; 
rose to fame, 8; modesty of, 
10; letter to H. M. Converse, 10; 
descendant of Ji-kon-sa-seh, 10; 
ancestry of, 11; mother’s vision, 
48; birth of, 50; named, 50; early 
teachings of, 53; cradle board of, 
55; given Seneca name, 58; ran 
away, 69; goes to Canada, hon 
drives horses, 72; taunted, 73; 
returns home, 73; goes to school, 
74; attends Yates Academy, 74; 
attends Cayuga Academy, 75; 
messenger for Senecas, 77; guest 
of President, 77; admires Mrs. Polk, 
77; studies law, 79; refused admis- 
sion to bar, 79; attends Rensselaer 
Polytechnic, 79; joins canal party, 
79; becomes acquainted with L. H. 
Morgan, 80; acts as interpreter, 84; 
companion of Morgan, 86; collec- 
tions of, 88; superintendent of canals 
Are perce reeption 0 of,91; made sachem, 
i chief engineer, 94; 
arteaete of, 94; strength of, 95; 
made superintendent, 96; love of 
Masonry, 96; Masonic career, 96; 
interest in Civil War, 99; enlistment 
refused, 100; oratory of, 101; 
estimate of Grant, 102; offers 
services to Secretary Seward, 102; 
services rejected, 103; retires to 
farm, 103; philosophy of, 106; Com- 
missioned captain, 106; reported to 
Gen. J. E. Smith, 107; made ad- 
jutant, 108; at Vicksburg, 108; in 
battles, 109; illness, 110; uses 
whiskey, 110; temperance of, 110; 
saves Grant, 111; commands army, 
112; as engineer, 113; appointed 
military secretary, 115; mistaken 
for Grant, 115; commissioned Col- 
onel, 116; played billiards, 117; at 
headquarters, 119; talks with 
Lincoln, 120; dispatches of, 121, 
122, 123, 124; in Appomattox cam- 
paign, 125; at McLean house, 129; 
drafts terms of Lee’s surrender, 
131; interviewed, 132; meets Lee, 
133: relates Grant anecdote, 136; 
equipment at surrender, 138; wrote 
orders, 139;issued parole order, 139; 
serves country as an Indian, 141; 
becomes a citizen, 141; gee 
sioned Brigadier General U. S. V., 
142; guards Grant, 142; resigns from 
War Department, 143; battles he 
fought in, 143; tours with Grant, 
144; saves Tonawanda Indians, 
144; meets future wife, 145; wed- 
ding, 145; attends Indian councils, 
146; appointed Commissioner of 
Indian Affairs, 150; policy of as 
Commissioner, 150; letter to Board, 
151; saw needs of Indians, 153; 
annual report of, 153; highest goal 
of, 154; plots against, 155; accused, 
155; trial of, 155; found without 
stain, 156; did not slur enemies, 


344 INDEX 


Parker, Ely Samuel—Continued. 

156; success of his administration, 
157; resigned, 157; review of life of, 
157; was honest, 158; honesty of, 
159; integrity of, 160; his home, 
160; resignation of, 159: financial 
affairs of, 160; letters of to Mrs. 
Converse, 164 to 179; influenced by 
Mrs. Converse, 163; autobiog- 
raphy of, 165; speech at Gettys- 
burg, 181; estimate of Red Jacket, 
207; idea’ of a memorial to Red 
Jacket, 212; home of in New York, 
221; position of in Police Depart- 
ment, 221, health of, 222; stricken, 
223; death of, 224; funeral of, 224- 
225; wampum on casket, 225; 
grave of, 225; retirement of, 226; 
his youth, 235; installed sachem, 
236; goes to war, 237; school days 
at Yates, 262; letter explaining 
laws to Indians, 286; letter to sister 
from Chattanooga, 292; family of, 
319; charges against refuted, 304; 
groundlessly accused, 309; incident 
of marriage, 319; Christian name 
of, 320. 

Parker, Ely S., military dispatches of, 
121, 122, 123, 124. 

Parker, Mrs. Ely S., (Minnie Sackett), 
178, 180, 224, 226. 

Parker family, vii, 19; settle at Tona- 
wanda, 20; homestead, 20; five sons 
in, 21; progressive, 53, 232: sup- 
posed ancestry of, 313. 

toner Frank S., (son of Nicholson), 


Dare, Fred Ely, (son of Nicholson), 
viii, 192, 224. 
emer Henry, (brother of William), 


Niel home, near Tonawanda Falls, 
20; rebuilt, 20; commodious, 51; 
meeting place, 51; birthplace of a 
science, 89; visited by Red Jacket, 
216; author’s visit to, 231, 232. 

Parker, Isaac Newton; in army, 100, 
189. 

Parker, Levi, 47, 84, 189, 231. 

Parker, Martha Hoyt, (wife of Nichol- 
son), v, 193. 

Parker, Maud, (daughter of Ely), 
180; 224. 

Parker, Minnie ae (daughter of 
Nicholson), 192, 226. 

Parker, Nicholson aul (brother of 
Ely S), viii, 38; named Gai-e-wah- 
go-wa, 58; attends school, 74; books 
written in home of, 89; lectured, 90; 
at school, 92; returned to Tona- 
wanda, 92; married Martha Hoyt, 
94; confidant of brother Ely, 117; 
character of, 191; his farm and 
home 192; description of home, 
194; Seneca name of, 195; intel- 
lectual nature of, 195; lectures of, 
196, 270, 278, 301; love of horses, 
197; activities of, 198; manner of, 
199; horses of, 200; death of, 201; 
son of William, 237; speech of, 
263; name of, 270: speech of, 270; 


lecture on Indian dances, 279; work 
of, 302, 332. 

Parker, Samuel, 19, 313, 314. 

Parker, Sherman Grant, (son of 

= See aoe a 
arker, Spencer, (brother of 8.), 
47, 189, 236. ae 

Parker, William, (Jo-no-es-do-wa), 
one of three brot! 19; became 
a o Eee 20; a hard worker, 20; 

knew his people, 31; enrolled, 32; 

returned from War of 1812, 40: 
owned saw mill, 40; of the Turtle 
Clan, 46; a hunter, 47; traded at 
Batavia, 50; progressive, 85; helps 
Mpc 87; ‘estimate of Grant, 100; 
his dren, 189; a chief, 

death of, 237; career, 238; family of 


Paes William, (son of Spencer), 
197, 226. 
Parole, issued to Confederates, 139- 


Peace policy, 147, 150. 

Pembroke, Caroline and Nicholson 
Parker attend school at, 74. 

Pemberton, Gen. John C., 185. 

Penn, William, 298. 

Pequots, 276. 

Petersburg, 116, 122. 

jie Bronson and Jones purchase, 


Peles, Martha B., 320. 

Philip of Pokonoet, 8, 76, 265. 
Pickering, Col. Timothy, 246, 
Pierce, Maris B., 70, work of, 304. 
Pittsburg, trading post at 54. 

Polk, President, ene Pan tb 

Pollard, (Seneca Chief), 3: 

Polo, Mary, (a Gipsy) Soo. 

Pontiac, 8, 76; genius of, 268. 

Porter, Hon. Augustus, 14. 

Porter, General Horace, 108, 115, 130. 

Porter, Charles Talbot, a friend, 80; 
adopted with Morgan, 82; Morgan’s 
friend, 82; defends customs of In- 

dians, 86. 

Porter, Gen. Peter Buel; adopted, 330. 
Potomac, Army of, 110; 114, 118, 135. 
Poudry, Mrs. Thomas, 226. 
Powhatan, 8. 

Prophecy fulfilled, 3: 

Prophet, The, (see aedieae Lake). 
Putnam, Frederic Ward, ix. 


QUAKERS fight a land conspiracy, 
295; defend Senecas, 297; meet at 
Buffalo Creek, 299; work of, 304. 

Quaker school, 300. 

Queen Anne, gives a communion 
service, 71. 

Gurevions relative to Indian affairs, 


RED JACKET, opposes Tecumseh, 
25; at Detroit, 26; replies to Judge 
Granger, 27-28; visits Parker home, 
51, 202; not popular, 202; Parker’s 
estimate of, 202; reinterment, 203; 
first appearance of, 209; ignorant 
of legal effect of Sullivan’s cam- 
paign, 210; monument proposed 


INDEX 


Red Jacket—Continued. 
for, 212; monument bon aid for by 
Mrs. Huyler, 213; his disappointed 
ambition, 214; a chief, 215; monu- 
ment 225; a patriot, 266; speech of, 
297; asks help of Quakers, 299: 
trial of, 325; medal of, 326, 328. 

Red Jacket Club, 327. 

Rawlins, Gen. John A., 111, 115, 122. 

Red Man, the American, an address 
by N. H. Parker, 263. 

Religion of Handsome Lake, manu- 
script account by E.S. Parker, 251. 

Reno Post, G. A. R., 224, 226. 

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; 
Parker attends, 79, 

Reservation life, 50-70, 89, 201. 

Revolutionary War, 22, 25, 207. 

Rice, Mrs. Emma A., 330. 

Richmond, campaign against, 119, 
Union army enters, 123. 

Riis, Jacob, 221; writes of Parker, 222. 

Rittenhouse, Dr. David, 327. 

Roosevelt, Theodore; Parker worked 
in office with, 221. 

Root, Gen. Adrian R., 330. 

Royal Arch, 96. 


SACHEMS, poor men, 52; raised, 71; 
of the Iroquois, 91; given power, 
93; cannot enter battle, 100; how 
term is used, 217; at Parker’s 
funeral, 224; elected, 236. 

Sackett, Minnie, engaged to General 
Parker, 146. 

Salisbury, Dr., 223. 

Salt Lick, on Buffalo Creek, 310. 

Sashes, red worsted, 38; buckskin, 38. 

Saunders, pursues Indian girl, 62. 

Scajaquada, (see Kenjockety), 313. 

Schenandoah, a pen name, 86. 

Schoolcraft, Henry, 81, 231. 

Scott, Gen., 32. 

Seneca band, 198. 

Seneca Castle, 18. 

Senecas, left towns of conquered tribes, 
14; warriors defeated Neutrals, 15; 
had village at mouth of the Tona- 
wanda, 16; traditions of Grand 
Island, 17; fought for territory, 17; 
remove, 18; abandon old homes, 24; 
oppose Tecumseh, 26; declare war 
on Great Britain, 28; participate in 
war, 32; took oath, 39; deceived, 
39; agriculturalists, 40; married, 41; 
religion of, 52; critical stage, 53; 
farmers, 54; become hunters, 54; 
costume of,55; unhappy condition, 
69; confusion of, 77; dances, 84; 
*279; treaty with, 92; threatened, 93; 
in Civil War, 103; government, 194; 
in Civil war, 209; defrauded, 203; 
country claimed by, 218; dominions, 
219; burial place, 219; loyalty to 
United States, 219; retreat, 246; 
lured west, 297; of Cattaraugus, 299; 
defrauded, 301. 

Settlers, character of, 53. 

Severance, Frank H., 225; interest of, 
226; notes by, 313; adopted, 330. 
Seward, William H., 102; interest in 

Indians, 309. 

Shanks, David, 226. 


345 


Shanks, Truman, 226. 

Shawnees, 25. 

Shelton house, fie 

Sheridan, Philip E., 120; site of, 
iPAL 125; naecee by Lee, 127; 
feared treachery, 127; received 
Lee’s letter, 128; doubts Lee, 129, 

Sherman, William T., 120. 

Shikellamy, governor of conquered 
tribes, 14. 

Shongo, George, 200. 

Shongo, Moses, 227. 

Shongo, W. Clifford, assists in adop- 
tion, 331. 

Silver, hee band, 56; brooches, 56; 
use of, 5 

See 32. 

Simcoe-Kerr, Col., a Mohawk, 37. 

Six Nations, (see Iroquois), Morgan’s 
essay on, 86. 

Skandauchquaty, Jack, 310. 

Sken-dyuh-gwa-dih, (Beyond-the- 
multitude, or John Kenjockety, a 
Neutral Indian), mentioned, i4; 
protests to Governor Clinton, 14: 

Skeye, Mr. 226. 

Slaves, Iroquois captives made, 14. 

Blom captive, nota Parker ancestor, 


Slocum, Frances, 318, 319, 320. 
monty, of American Indians, viii; 
Society of Charm Holders, 60. 
Society of Colonial Wars, 225. 
BOGE of Friends, (see Quakers), 


nls 

Social grades of the Iroquois, 215. 

Sons of the Revolution, 329. 

Sos-he-o-wa, (see Jemmy Johnson); 
41; succeeds Handsome Lake, 53; 
wants descendants to know ancient 
lore, 60, 249. 

Southern army, (see Confederate 
army), 119; routed, 124. 

Smith, Bete A., a writer, 324. 

Smith, Capt. A. J., ae 

Smith, Gen. J. C, 

Smith, Gen. J. E., roy, 108. 

Smoking, Grant’s ‘love of, 136. 

Spies, 119. 

Beate eee, (Divers Lake), 59; legend 
of, 60. 

Spottsylvania, 111; 136. 

Squaw Island, 15. 

Squawkie Hill, 33. 

Stanley, James M., an artist, 325. 

Staples, George Kelly, adopted, 330; 
adoption of, 331. 

State Museum, vii; Parker wampum 
belt in, 3; war Stabe in, 31; Morgan’s 
wampum belt in, 82; Morgan's 
work for, 86; collections in, 98, 238. 

State Library, destroyed, 89. 

Stevenson, James, 205. 

Stevenson, Moses, 205. 

Stevenson, Ruth, 205. 

Stone, Rey. Ely; Ely Parker named 
for, 320. 

Street, Alfred, 81. 

Strong, Nathaniel, 303. 

Sugar bushes, 233. 


346 


Sullivan’s campaign, 212, 219. 

Sullivan, Major Gen. John, raid of, 
23, 24, 207, 316. 

Surrender of Lee, eee scene of, 129; 
incidents of, 130, 1 

Susqyehesne Valley, fa 

Sweat bath, 5. 


TAFT, President, William H., inter- 
view with author, 158. 

Tammany, a Delaware chief, 182; 
lines to, 188. 

Tecumseh, (a Shawnee chief), ances- 
oe one known, 8; plan for League, 

Terms of Surrender, 130, 131; Grant’s 
letter on, 132 

Thacher, 76. 

Thomas Indian School, 192, 331. 

Thomas, Philip, 193; helped Indians, 
302, 304. 

Timber in W. New York, 17. 

Tippecanoe, 106. 

Tompkins, Governor, 267. 

Tonawanda Creek, 15; settlements 
elong: 16; valley of, 17; falls, 20, 

Tonawanda Falls, 41. 

Tonawanda Indians, 47; situation, 
92, 93; in fear of ejectment, 93; 
lands saved, 144; buy lands, 145; 
letter to, 286; no part in treaty, 303. 

Tonawanda Reservation, set aside in 
1797, 18; lose a portion of, 20, 73, 
92, 99, 145, 189, 222, 323. 

Tonawanda Valley, 17. 

Town Destroyer, (Indian name for 
Washington), 27 

Townsend, E. D., 116. 

Traits of Indian Chet, @ speech 
by N. H. Parker, 2 

Treaty of 1838, 92; le 301. 

Tree burials, 5 

Tree eaters, ‘43. 

Tribes, broken, 71. 

Trippe, M. F., 170. 

Tucker, George L., ‘adopted, 330. 

Tuscarora Reservation, 321, 

Tuscaroras, 71 

Tutelos, 71. 

Two Guns, Daniel, 205. 

Two Guns, Noah, 197. 


UNION ARMY, 120, 122, 123, 135; 
closes on Lee, 127. 


VALLEY LODGE, 96. 
Van Buren, President Martin, 92. 
Van Deventer, Peter, 61. 


INDEX 


Vicksburg, Ag a Grant at, 185. 
Vreeland bill, 


WALBRIDGE, Col. C. E., 226. 
bhiccrisy Bishop and Mrs. William D., 


Wanustiee in State Museum, 3; 
meaning of, 3; Washington treaty, 
28; given Lae Morgan, 82; on 
Parker's coffin, 225, 231, 324. 

Wampum Keeper, 224. 

War of 1812, Senecas in, 26, 32; 
Oneidas in, 32; women in, 33; cap- 
tives of Iroquois help in, 34; in- 
cidents of 34; Iroquois were allies 
in, 36; estrangement of loa 37; 
lett Senecas loyal to U.S 39, 209; 


Washeaton (city), 77, 79, 102, 145. 

Washington, George, Iroquois grate- 
ful to, 27; treaty belt, 28; 207, 209, 
219; medals of, to Indians, 326. 

Welsh, William, accused Parker, 155; 
libeled Indian race, 155; accusation 
of against Parker, 305, 308. 

Wenroes, 12. 

Wee Point, 118, 133; Grant visits, 


White Oak road, 122. 

Wilderness, Campaign in, 111, 113. 

Wild Rose, (A-weh-hah), story of, 
66, 68; tragedy of, 69. 

Wilner, Mrs. Merton W., 320. 

Wilson, C. R., 330. 

Wilson, Dr. Peter, 70; interpreter, 92; 
bee army surgeon, 103; speech 
to} 

Wilson, Robert ey Phiri 

Williams, Elias, 224. 

Williams, Seth, Roser by Lee, 133. 

Women in war, 23; costumes of, 57; 
head ornaments, 58 

Worth, Capt., 35. 

Wright, Mrs. Laura M., 191, 193, 206. 

Wright, Rev. Asher, (missionary to 
the Senecas), 191; death of, 192, 
206; helped Senecas, 302, 309, 314. 

Wright, W. W., interviews with Par- 
ker, 100. 

Wyandots, 26. 


hae Academy, 74; mentioned, 


ve nH (the Great Woman, see 
oy as! of Nations or Ji-kon-sa- 
se. 

Yorn Ring 21. 

Youngstown, 34. 


Form 335—40M—6-40 


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